Review A triumphant season conclusion for Skipton Music

American composers in the 1920s and 30s – black and white – were striving to create a distinctively American musical idiom, in contrast with the European tradition in which they had been trained. Some, like Aaron Copland, incorporated American folk and popular music directly into their music; others, like Samuel Barber, did not adopt such “regional” influences but aimed at a more universal but still highly personal style. For composers of the Black renaissance movement, such as Nora Holt, Florence Price and Margaret Bonds, there was no question: the rhythms of spirituals and gospel was in their blood and they…