Leonard Hayes plays George Walker's Piano Sonata No. 2

I. Theme and Six Variations
II. Presto
III Adagio
IV. Allegretto tranquillo

George Walker (1922 - 2018)
George Walker was one of America’s most honored composers, having had his works performed by every major orchestra in the country, and was the first African-American composer to win a Pulitzer Prize for music. He composed nearly 100 pieces in forms ranging from solo piano pieces and
songs to concerti and symphonies and was also a respected music professor and pianist. Though his musical influences as a composer came from mainstream trends of 20th-century classical music
such as serialism, the works of Debussy and Stravinsky, as well as African-American spirituals, blues, and jazz, Walker has his own distinct musical voice. Walker commented, “I had to find my own way, a way of doing something that was different, something that I would be satisfied with.” His music is marked by intellectual rigor rather than an overt display of emotionalism. His musical concerns are for formal construction and an emphasis on counterpoint and chromaticism. As an accomplished pianist, Walker’s piano music shows an intimate knowledge of keyboard technique, but never resorts to simple virtuosity.

Walker studied at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music (M.B.1941); then entered the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where he studied piano with Rudolf Serkin, composition with Rosario Scalero and Gian Carlo Menotti, and chamber music with Gregor Piatigorsky and William Primrose (Artist Diploma, 1945). He also took piano lessons with Robert Casadesus in Fontainebleau in France (diploma, 1947), obtained his D.M.A from the Eastman School of Music in 1957. In 1957 he received a Fulbright fellowship for travel to Paris, where he took courses in composition with Nadia Boulanger. In 1945 he made his debut as a pianist and subsequently appeared throughout the U.S. and abroad. He was also active as a teacher, holding appointments at Dillard University in New Orleans, the New School for Social Research, the Dalcroze School of Music, Smith College, and the University of Colorado. In 1969 he was named professor of composition at Rutgers and was named chairman of the composition department in 1974. In 1969 he received a Guggenheim fellowship and also held 2 Rockefeller fellowships for study in Italy. In
1982 he was made a member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.

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