Symphony No. 4 (Sessions)

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The Symphony No. 4 of Roger Sessions was composed in 1958. [1]

Contents

It has three movements:

  1. Burlesque
  2. Elegy [2]
  3. Pastorale [3]

It was commissioned by the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra for the Minnesota Centennial, and premiered by the Minnesota Orchestra conducted by Antal Doráti [4] on January 2, 1960. [5]

The second movement's basically slow tempo is interrupted twice by faster episodes. This movement was intended as an elegy for the composer's brother, John, who died in 1948. [6] The finale, also slow, increases in intensity towards its close. [7] Andrea Olmstead describes all of Sessions's symphonies as "serious" and "funereal". [8]

Discography

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References

  1. The last page of the score as published is signed with the date of completion.
  2. Opening of Elegy is quoted as example 6 in Imbrie. Imbrie, Andrew (1972). "The Symphonies of Roger Sessions". Tempo. New Series (103): 24–32. ISSN   0040-2982. JSTOR   943951. OCLC   1767255.
  3. Marks Music Corporation 1963 score.
  4. Helm, Everett (May 1960). "Reports from Abroad". Musical Times. Musical Times Publications Ltd. 101 (1407): 316–7. ISSN   0027-4666. OCLC   53165808.
  5. "Roger Sessions: Compositions" . Retrieved 23 May 2009.
  6. Prausnitz (2002), Roger Sessions: How a "Difficult" Composer Got That Way at Google Books; p. 281; Steinberg, Choral Masterworks at Google Books, p. 253.
  7. Badea's recording on New World;[ failed verification ] Marks Music score.[ failed verification ]
  8. Olmstead, Andrea (2012). Roger Sessions: A Biography, p.356. Routledge. ISBN   9781135868925.

Further reading