Yamada & Ferrández

No large American orchestra had ever played a composition by a Black woman when Florence Price appeared on the scene with her innovative First Symphony. In form, content and orchestration, she took her lead from Antonín Dvořák’s music but self-confidently pointed beyond it; rather than a scherzo, she wrote an African-American Juba dance. Dvořák, too, took an unusual path with his Cello Concerto: He did not in fact like the instrument – but working on his rousing concerto changed his mind once and for all.