Martin Luther King Day. Joseph Schwantner’s “New Morning for the World (Daybreak of Freedom),” on a text drawn from King’s speeches, still not available on CD? In this fine recording? Why?

Schwantner was awarded the Pultizer Prize for Music, for his “Aftertones of Infinity,” in 1979. “New Morning for the World” dates from 1982. Here’s a review of a concert performance of the piece in the New York Times. Sorry they didn’t record the Piston symphony!

http://www.nytimes.com/1983/01/18/arts/concert-willie-stargell-and-eastman-orchestra.html

The work received its world premiere in 1983 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., on King’s birthday, January 15. This was followed by performances at Carnegie Hall, Philadelphia’s Academy of Music, Pittsburgh’s Heinz Hall, and Rochester’s Eastman Theater.

The album also includes Aaron Copland’s “A Lincoln Portrait” and “An Eastman Overture” by George Walker. Copland and Walker too are Pulitzer Prize winners. Pittsburgh Pirate Willie Stargell hits it out of the park.

There is a recording of “New Morning for the World” on compact disc (on Koch International Classic), but the narrator wouldn’t exactly earn a Stargell Star. The LP, with the Eastman Philharmonia, is still the one to beat.