Dances in the Canebrakes

Notes from the editor, John Michael Cooper:

I AM DELIGHTED to share that Florence Price's valedictory opus, the DANCES IN THE CANEBRAKES, is now back in print -- this in my new source-critical edition published by ClarNan Editions! Ms. Price actually did not live to see the original volume's release, as it was copyrighted on 3 November 1953 (five months to the day after her death) and likely published soon thereafter. Morever, that edition soon went out of print, and consequently the Dances in the Canebrakes have long circulated mostly in the orchestral version prepared by William Grant Still. Price's own version for piano solo has become hard to get (but no more).

Two features of the volume that I'm very happy with are the reinstatement of the "Cotton Dance" to its original position between "Nimble Feet" and "Tropical Noon" and -- most fascinating -- its inclusion of the only version of the last movement that survives in Price's hand. The latter is titled "Chicken Feathers" rather than "Silk Hat and Walking Cane," and is in E-flat major (with plenty of fingerings provided by Price) rather than the F major of the final published opus. It also contains other, fascinating changes.