Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Here’s Willie Stargell in Joseph Schwantner’s “New Morning for the World (Daybreak of Freedom),” from 1982, the text compiled from speeches of MLK.

These are the forces which gave the piece its premiere on January 15, 1983 (King’s birthday), at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. For my money, it is still the preferred recording of the work. Why has this never been issued on compact disc?

In fact, there don’t appear to be any recordings of the piece currently in print! Schwanter was the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1979 for his work, “Aftertones of Infinity.”

More about Stargell here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Stargell

It makes me realize how naive and complacent I am that I am surprised by the episodes of discrimination and harassment against such a beloved figure. It also makes me realize just how short history is.