Paul Freeman has always been a conductor after my own heart. A champion of unusual and neglected repertoire, Freeman recorded prolifically – some 200 albums. I won’t get into whether or not the color of his skin had a negative impact on his career. Freeman was a positive force who always found a way.
He held posts with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony, and the Helsinki Philharmonic. He was music director of the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, and the Victoria Symphony in British Columbia.
Freeman retired from conducting in 2011. He died on July 21, at the age of 79. We celebrate his artistry and love of music this week on “The Lost Chord,” by way of his extensive and varied discography.
From his series, “Paul Freeman Introduces,” on the Albany label, we’ll hear music by Richard Yardumian, former composer-in-residence with the Philadelphia Orchestra . “Veni, Sancte Spiritus” was one of a number of Yardumian works to be documented by Ormandy and the Philadelphians during the LP era. Atonishingly, none of them ever made it to compact disc. Leave it to Freeman to fill in the gap.
Adophus Hailstork, one of the artists Freeman favored as part of his landmark “Black Composers Series,” set down for Columbia Records back in the 1970s, will also be represented. His “Sonata da Chiesa” for string orchestra grew out of Hailstork’s love for cathedrals.
Freeman was always an enthusiastic champion of new music and works by African-American composers. He was also a sensitive and sympathetic accompanist, as borne out by his many concerto recordings. Of those, we’ll hear what is probably the strangest of them all – Morton Gould’s “Tap Dance Concerto.”
Finally, we’ll have selections from the “African Suite,” by Nigerian composer Fela Sowande, a work Freeman recorded twice, for Columbia in the 1970s, and decades later for Cedille Records, as part of the three-volume “African Heritage Symphonic Series.”
It’s a nice assortment, though of course it only scratches the surface. It is with mixed emotions that I bid “Farewell to Freeman,” tonight at 10 ET, with a repeat Wednesday evening at 6. You can also listen to it later as a webcast, at wwfm.org.
