Symphony No. 9 (Sessions)

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The Symphony No. 9 by Roger Sessions is a symphony in three movements, completed in 1978. A performance lasts about 28 minutes.

Contents

History

Sessions began his Ninth Symphony in 1975 on a commission from the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, whose music director at the time was Frederik Prausnitz. It was completed in October 1978, but by the time of the first performance Prausnitz had been succeeded by Christopher Keene, who conducted the premiere in Syracuse on 17 January 1980. Prausnitz also conducted the work, two months later, at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, on 18 March 1980, followed shortly by the first New York performance on 22 March by Keene and the Syracuse Symphony in Carnegie Hall. [1]

Sessions referred to a "special task" he set himself in writing this symphony, which "involves both agony and joy in the making of it". This refers to the portrayal of evil, inspired by William Blake's poem "The Tyger", represented especially in the first movement of Sessions's symphony. The composer said the first measures represent the tiger lying in wait, and the movement concludes with the question, "Could he who made the lamb make thee?". [2]

Analysis

The symphony is in three movements in the traditional fast-slow-fast pattern. The second and third movements are performed without a break:

  1. Allegro—Impetuoso—tranquillo
  2. Con movimento adagio—doppio movimento quasi allegretto
  3. Allegro vivace

Although a single twelve-tone row forms the basis of the entire symphony, a second, related row is also used in the first movement only. [3] This main row is:

C♯, C, G, F, G♯, A / D, B, D♯, E, B♭ F♯

The two hexachords of this row are combinatorial by inversion at T3 (transposition by a minor third). [3] The secondary row in the first movement is:

A–G–F–F♯–C–A♭ / B♭–D–B–E♭–E–C♯

However, Sessions's free treatment of the combinatorial hexachords and of various trichord (particularly 014, 016, and 026) tends to displace textbook twelve-tone technique, producing a complex but coherent network of pitch-class sets. [4]

The second, slow movement is in ternary (ABA) form with a coda. [5] The trombone plays an especially prominent role in this movement, a choice of instrument unusual for Sessions. [6]

The finale, which continues without a break from the slow movement, is at least superficially a rondo. [7] In this movement Sessions uses meter and tempo as bases simultaneously to mark and to blur formal articulations. It is the most difficult movement of the symphony to grasp formally, largely because of the constantly fluctuating tempos, which "produce a musical vertigo typical of Sessions's late music". [8]

Discography

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The Symphony No. 5 of Roger Sessions was commissioned in 1960 and completed in 1964. It was commissioned by Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the first movement only was premiered by them in February 1964, the rest not being completed until that December.

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The Symphony No. 7 of Roger Sessions was written in 1967 for the 150th anniversary of the University of Michigan. It was premiered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on October 1, 1967, by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jean Martinon.

The Symphony No. 1 of Roger Sessions is a symphony in three movements, in E minor.

The Symphony No. 8 of Roger Sessions was composed in 1968.

Roger Sessions' Violin Concerto was composed between 1927 and 1935, and is scored for violin and orchestra.

Roger Sessions' Piano Sonata No. 2 was composed in 1946. It has three movements:

  1. Allegro con fuoco
  2. Lento
  3. Misurato e pesante
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The Symphony No. 3 in B minor by the Ukrainian composer Borys Lyatoshynsky was completed in 1951, with the final movement themed "Peace will conquer war." The symphony was first performed in Kyiv on 23 October 1951, by the Kyiv Philharmonic, conducted by Natan Rakhlin. Criticised by the Soviet authorities on ideological grounds, the composer was forced to rework the symphony, and to remove the subtitle of the finale. The first performance of the revised version took place in Leningrad in 1955.

References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Olmstead 1980, p. 79.
  2. ↑ Olmstead, Andrea. 1995. "Roger Sessions Symphonies 6, 7 & 9". Booklet accompanying CD recording, Roger Sessions Symphonies 6, 7 & 9, 3–5. Argo 444 519-2. London: The Decca Record Company. p. 5.
  3. 1 2 Hoberman 1999, p. 81.
  4. ↑ Stucky, Stephen (December 1985). "Roger Sessions: Symphony No. 9; Ulysses Kay: Chariots; Lukas Foss: Night Music for John Lennon; Robert Starer: Hudson Valley Suite". Notes. 42 (2): 390–392. doi:10.2307/897448. JSTOR   897448. p. 391.
  5. ↑ Hoberman 1999, p. 163.
  6. ↑ Olmstead 1980, p. 80.
  7. ↑ Hoberman 1999, p. 179.
  8. ↑ Olmstead, Andrea. 2008. Roger Sessions: A Biography. New York: Routledge. p. 365. ISBN   978-0-415-97713-5 (hardback); ISBN   978-0-415-97714-2 (pbk); ISBN   978-0-203-93147-9 (ebook).

Further reading

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