The perfect classical half hour

“Marking the beginning of Black History Month, the Classical Mixtape provides half an hour of back to back classical music by black composers from across the last three centuries. Showcasing a wide range of styles and influences, there is jazz and blues infused music by Duke Ellington and Wynton Marsalis, sitting alongside chamber music by the 17th-century French composer and conductor Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, and a well-known piano rag by Scott Joplin. Choral music is provided by the British composer Ken Burton setting words by Paul Laurence Dunbar, the black American son of emancipated slaves. There's a heart-breaking song about grief by William Grant Still, and dance music by Florence Price opens the sequence, which would not be complete without a characteristically quirky take on horseplay by the newly appointed Master of the King's Music, Errollyn Wallen. Producer: Helen Garrison”