Alice Coltrane: Radhe-Shyam arr. Harp and String Orchestra 

Dr. Ashley Jackson, harp
Urban Playground Chamber Orchestra
Transcribed and arranged: Dr. Ashley Jackson, Dr. Thomas Cunningham
Coltrane, Mahler & Schumann are common names to find on concert programs, but did you know these were not single-composer homes? Alice, Alma and Clara were, too, world-class composers. However, in the case of Alma and Clara they struggled against societal expectations of what a woman's compositions should be. With the exception of Clara's piano concerto, both composers were confined to art song, solo piano works and some chamber music. In order to amplify their songs, Urban Playground artistic director Thomas Cunningham has arranged the works for string orchestra, hoping to share a glimpse of what might have been had such restrictions on their writing not existed.
Alice, who later went by Turiyasangtananda (or Turiya), was a harp firebrand, bringing the instrument to the forefront of jazz as a bandleader and composer. After the passing of John, Turiya joined an Ashram in California. The works you'll hear were originally devised solely for members of her Ashram, but later released internationally.