Roger Sessions: Symphony Nos. 4 & 5 · Rhapsody (1987)

As a teacher to some of America's most renowned composers including Milton Babbitt, David Del Tredici, David Diamond, Miriam Gideon, Andrew Imbrie, Frederic Rzewski, George Tsontakis, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, among others, Roger Sessions could easily be perceived as the grand daddy of American modern music. And yet, he remained an anomaly among his contemporaries. While many of his colleagues (second-generation modernist composers who matured between the world wars) viewed the first explosion of modernism as a mandate (or at least an excuse) to chart largely divergent paths―pursuing the "ultra-modern," searching for an American idiom, rooting around for a "new objectivity," or transforming expressionism into an overtly political movement―Sessions resolutely maintained a conservative and comprehensive vision of American musical culture. He believed in the capacity of music to transcend the "specific, individual and conscious" and, presumably, all incarnations of parochial fashion. Not surprisingly, then, Sessions channeled his thought into music for ensembles and genres associated with the culmination of the central canon of European music, especially favoring the orchestral symphony-he wrote nine, over a fifty-year period.

Tracklist

Symphony No. 4:
I. Burlesque
II. Elegy
III. Pastorale

Symphony No. 5:
I. Tranquillo
II. Lento
III. Allegro deciso

Rhapsody for Orchestra

Columbus Symphony Orchestra
Christian Badea, Conductor

New World Records: NW80345