Pianist Michael Noble is a graduate of the Yale Faculty of Music, the Eastman Faculty of Music, and the College of Rochester. He additionally studied on the Paris Conservatoire and the Royal Ghent Conservatory.
Michael has an intense curiosity in worthy music that deserves wider consideration. That would clarify why Michael’s first album, “American Dissident,” options political works of music by Frederic Rzewski and Margaret Bonds. “American Dissident” was launched in November 2022 and is now obtainable by way of HearNow.com for listening on a number of in style streaming platforms.
“American Dissident” will not be but obtainable for listening on Classical Archives. However we hope that will probably be quickly.
“American Dissident” emerged from Michael’s exploration of the works of composers Margaret Bonds (1913-1973) and Frederic Rzewski (1938-2021). The album’s title displays the lives and political philosophies of each composers, clearly heard within the compositions that Michael chosen for “American Dissident.” They embrace “The Individuals Will By no means Be Defeated!” by Rzewski and “Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues” by Bonds. These works, performed by Michael on the disc, are greater than topical. They’re exceptionally good music, satisfying to listen to.
To cite from Michael’s album notes for “American Dissident” . . .
Margaret Bonds
Margaret Bonds occupies a singular place in American classical music. Born in Chicago in 1913, her mom was a musician and her father, Monroe Alpheus Majors was a physician who additionally authored the first-of-its sort anthology Famous Negro Girls: Their Triumphs and Actions in 1893. Bonds composed her first piece on the age of eight after she had been taking piano classes for a number of years. On the age of 16, she entered Northwestern College, the place she was pressured to check within the basement as a result of hostile and racist setting in direction of individuals of shade. She obtained her bachelor’s and grasp’s levels in 1933 and 1934, respectively. Whereas nonetheless a pupil, she turned the primary Black individual to carry out with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Throughout this era, Bonds studied piano and composition with Florence Worth, who turned certainly one of her biggest influences and mentors. . . “Troubled Water” is Margaret Bonds’s best-known instrumental composition. It had beforehand been the third motion of Bonds’ “Non secular Suite” — a symphonically-conceived set of three piano items primarily based on African American spirituals — earlier than it was printed as a stand-alone piece in 1967. In its unique guise, it was a chunk for piano with viewers participation referred to as “Group Dance,” primarily based on the Negro Non secular “Wade within the Water” . . .
Frederic Rzewski
Frederic Rzewski’s “The Individuals United Will By no means Be Defeated!” relies on Sergio Ortega’s protest tune “¡El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido!” with lyrics by the Chilean people group Quilapayún. It was one of the vital well-known songs of the New Chilean Tune Motion, a revolution that occurred within the in style music of the nation throughout Salvador Allende’s Standard Unity Authorities. After Augusto Pinochet’s CIA-backed coup ousted Allende in 1973, the tune gained worldwide reputation as a common protest tune towards injustice . . . After Ursula Oppens’ premiere recording of the piece in 1978 for Vanguard, it rapidly turned certainly one of his most well-known compositions.
To study extra about “American Dissident,” contact Michael Noble at MichaelNoble88@gmail.com
