The music of American composer Roger Sessions has a reputation for being forbidding. To me, it is not that it is "difficult" so much as it makes no attempt to be "easy" in the way that Randall Thompson's own Second Symphony does. |
| Sessions in 1948 |
The excellent sonics, too, convey a sense of a real performance. The simple miking helps to provide an integrated sound to the orchestra - so different from the synthetic approach that has been the norm for many years. The symphony was recorded in Columbia's 30th Street studios in January 1950.
The liner notes below provide a good introduction to Sessions and this music. The only negative to this issue is the completely inappropriate front cover art.
7 comments:
Link (Apple lossless format; plays in iTunes, the current Foobar and other programs):
http://www.mediafire.com/?bxsre8mj5i957wz
All names I know; I just don't know the piece. Looking forward to it. Thanks.
Thank you but the link is down. Please repost.
Just checked the link - seems to be fine. Please try again.
Yes. It's fine. Thanks
This piece is new to me as well - listening to it now make me want to hear quite a bit more of Sessions' work - coming from Scotland I heard a lot of Peter Maxwell Davis conducting his own works in the 1980s and can clearly see the influence of Sessions. Reading the Andrea Olmstead biog. in Grove she mentions he had a good sense of humour this clearly comes out in the last movt. She also says 'Long revered by students, musicians and other composers, Sessions has not yet been accepted by the public. This is partly because his music, to quote his friend Casella, was ‘born difficult’.' maybe some of it is but really interesting stuff and worth getting to know better!
New material for me also.
Thank you.
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