Roots CD

On 25th June 2021, rising star violinist Randall Goosby releases Roots, an exploration of the music written by Black composers and inspired by Black American culture. The album is a homage to the pioneering musicians that paved the way for Goosby and his generation of young artists, and looks to the future, opening with a specially-commissioned work by New Jersey-based composer Xavier Dubois Foley.

Goosby says, “I am so grateful for the opportunity to share this album during such a pivotal moment in history. It has been a year of division and isolation for so many – I hope this music will inspire not only the kind of curiosity and creativity that brings people together, but also the reflection, understanding and compassion we so desperately need moving forward.”

Many of these African-American composers – William Grant Still, Florence Price, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson – had to navigate society at a time when racism, prejudice and segregation were commonplace. Today, artists like myself, and other young artists of colour, enjoy more of a sense of freedom and confidence in pursuing a career in classical music.
Produced by 2021 GRAMMY Producer of the Year, David Frost, the release also includes world premiere recordings of music by Florence Price, lately enjoying renewed recognition across the world. Price made history as the first African-American woman to have her music performed by a major US orchestra in 1933, but after her death, her music faded into obscurity. In 2009, manuscripts of Price’s music were rediscovered and saved from destruction from her former home in Illinois: two ‘Fantasies’ are commercially recorded for the first time, and ‘Adoration’ is recorded with violin for the first time on Roots.

Tracklist:
Xavier Dubois Foley
1. Shelter Island*

Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson: Blue/s Forms for Solo Violin
2. i. Plain Blue/s
3. ii. Just Blue/s
4. iii. Jettin’ Blue/s

George Gershwin, from Porgy and Bess
5. Summertime
6. A Woman is a Sometime Thing
7. It ain’t necessarily so
8. Bess you is my woman now

William Grant Still: Suite for violin and piano
9. i. African Dancer
10. ii. Mother and Child
11. iii. Garmin

Florence Price
12. Adoration*
13. Fantasie No.1 in G minor*
14. Fantasie No.2 in F# minor*

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor arr. Maud Powell
15. Deep River

Antonín Dvořák: Sonatina in G major
16. i. Allegro Risoluto
17. ii. Larghetto
18. iii. Scherzo and Trio
19. Finale: Allegro