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Virginia Symphonic Poem, opus 44
...is dedicated to the composer's mother, Amina Ora Ray Inayat-Khan. This work, which was performed for the first time at the Fine Arts Center in Lynchburg, Virginia in 1971, conducted by William Yarborough, consists of a few well-known folk songs that the conductor sent, asking that a a symphonic poem be created from them.
In these pages, a variety of folklore melodies are presented herewith, as a succession of reminiscences referring to old Virginian history, told back as a ‘dream’ in the form of a musical poem. Furthermore, all given themes are bound together with rhythmic patterns, expressed in the drums, with the object of illustrating the characteristics of those specific events which gave birth to the glorious folklore of beautiful Virginia…
Introduction Shenandoah Sourwood Mountain Old black Joe Turkey in the straw Carry me back to old Virginia In the blue ridge mountains of Virginia John Brown’s body Dixie Coda