William Grant Still wrote his Symphony No. 2 in G minor, 'Song of a New Race', and Symphony No. 4, 'Autochthonous', during what he called his 'universal' period. In both works, harmonic and melodic patterns drawn from the blues are woven into the forms and colours of the European symphony, producing music that is at once deeply American and warmly lyrical. The National Symphony Orchestra and its music director Gianandrea Noseda recorded the two symphonies live in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall in 2022 and 2023, as part of a recording series that also includes a complete Beethoven cycle and the first complete recording of George Walker's Sinfonias.