Wynton Marsalis: Blues Symphony
PTC5187232 (Pentatone Classics, CD)
DDD
Stereo
FIRST RELEASE (14 March 2025)
Playing time: 61'26"
Tracks: 7
Booklet pages: 8
℗ 2025 Detroit Symphony Orchestra
© 2025 Pentatone Music BV
Main country of recording: United States of America
Country of manufacture: Germany
Received: 4 February 2025
This item is available to review
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Jader Bignamini, conductor
Wynton Marsalis (born 1961):
Blues Symphony (2009)
1 Born in Hope
2 Swimming in Sorrow
3 Reconstruction Rag
4 Southwestern Shakedown
5 Big City Breaks
6 Danzon y Mambo, Choro y Samba
7 Dialogue in Democracy
This seven-movement symphony was over a decade in the making and is now regarded as one of Marsalis' most innovative and expansive compositions, representing the scope of America’s musical heritage. Marsalis shares: 'The Blues Symphony is a seven-movement work that gives a symphonic identity to the form and feeling of the blues. It utilizes regional and stylistic particulars of the idiom’s language and form to convey the basic point of view of the blues as music: ‘Life hands you hard times.’ When you cry, holler, and shout to release those hard times; when you tease, cajole, and play to diminish them; and when you dance and find a common community through groove, better times will be found. The more profound the pain, the deeper the groove. I believe there is an organic and real connection between all Western orchestra traditions regardless of instrumentation, and that the symphonic orchestra can and will traditions regardless of instrumentation, and that the symphonic orchestra can and will swing, play the blues, feature melodic improvisation, and execute the more virtuosic aspects of jazz and American vernacular music with absolute authenticity.'