American Music

[Dundonnell]

I wish I liked Sessions more

[eschiss1]

erato - they haven't made any new issues of his music, but they've reissued at least part of one deleted older one (an excellent Koch International Classics recording, produced by Howard Stokar, of Sessions' E minor first string quartet, his string quintet (commercial premiere), 6 cello pieces (first CD recording), and Canons in memory of Stravinsky (first commercial recording- there was a BBC studio tape)) . And yes, this is beginning to belong in another thread...
Dundonnell - erm... ok?

[mikehopf]

Merry Christmas to all the Parker fans out there!

See Download Section

[albion]

Mike and Dave, many thanks for the Horatio Parker items!

[dafrieze]

I wish I liked Sessions more

Has anyone else in all of history ever said that?  I've been listening to his symphonies, just to see if I could get a handle on him.  No luck.  I have friends who sang in performances of his requiem, When Lilacs Last in the Courtyard Bloom'd and his opera Montezuma, which was premiered by Sarah Caldwell's opera company here in Boston.  None of them has a fondly reminiscent memory of either piece.  Perhaps, a century from now, contributors to this site will be busily uploading his works and wondering how such beautiful and moving music could possibly have been neglected all these many years . . .

[Dundonnell]

I wish I liked Sessions more

Has anyone else in all of history ever said that?  I've been listening to his symphonies, just to see if I could get a handle on him.  No luck.  I have friends who sang in performances of his requiem, When Lilacs Last in the Courtyard Bloom'd and his opera Montezuma, which was premiered by Sarah Caldwell's opera company here in Boston.  None of them has a fondly reminiscent memory of either piece.  Perhaps, a century from now, contributors to this site will be busily uploading his works and wondering how such beautiful and moving music could possibly have been neglected all these many years . . .

Sessions is one of those composers-Witold Lutoslawski is another(at least after about 1955) and Elliott Carter is definitely a third-who I have tried repeatedly to appreciate but have failed to do so.

I have been roundly scolded elsewhere( ), I assure you, for this "sad deficiency in my musical understanding". I very much doubt whether I shall ever really come to like music which to my ears lacks the necessary ingredients to appeal to my musical sensibilities.

[BFerrell]

I've listened to Sessions for thirty years....nothing.  Lutoslawski I do enjoy (all the pre-1957 stuff, 3rd annd 4th Symphonies and the Cello Concerto). Carter is a lost cause. I think people pretend to like him so as to appear  more advanced than the rest of us. Pure noise. To quote RVW, "If you ever do think of a tune, be sure to write it down".

[dafrieze]

My opinions of Lutoslawski and Carter coincide exactly with Tapiola's.  Much of the Polish composer's music - his symphonies, his Concerto for Orchestra, etc. - is extremely appealing, and I enjoy listening to them.  Carter is a nullity to my ears.  I think the big difference between the two is that Lutoslawski's music always seems to have some kind of emotional connection with the world around it, whereas Carter's is entirely about itself.

[BFerrell]

Carter = arid.  Lutoslawski = human and humane. Sessions= cerebral and dry.

[Dundonnell]

I shall obviously have to try much harder with later Lutoslawski

[semloh]

I shall obviously have to try much harder with later Lutoslawski

I wouldn't bother, Colin! I compare it to liking blue cheese .... trying harder to like it generally doesn't work! 

My father told me when I was a boy that Beethoven's string quartets would be something I'd appreciate late in life ... 50 years later and still no progress! 

As to underdeveloped musical sensibilities, referred to earlier, while I'm old-fashioned enough to believe that works of art have degrees of intrinsic aesthetic value, passing judgements as to that value, quite apart from justifying one's own tastes, usually serves to create in-groups and out-groups. The implications for extending those judgements to the listener/viewer/reader are obvious. 

I speak as someone who would happily swap the original Mona Lisa for a photo of a steam engine and then stare in wonder at its beauty! 

[Dundonnell]

Eh...sorry again...shamokin, but the links to Sowerby's Violin and Piano Concertos are the same: the link takes one to the Violin Concerto only.

[shamokin88]

Well, perhaps I have fixed it now. Please let me know if not.

[Dundonnell]

You have indeed

Thanks very much

I have quite a lot of Sowerby on cd actually-Symphony No. 2,  Concertpiece for organ and orchestra, Classic Concerto for organ and orchestra, Medieval Poem for organ and orchestra, Festival Musick for organ and orchestra, the Tone Poems "Prairie", "Theme in Yellow", "From the Northland", Passacaglia, Interlude and Fugue for orchestra, Overtures "All on a Summer's Day", "Comes Autumn Time" and Concert Overture and the Cantata "Canticle of the Sun". That's not a bad representation I think for a decent but not spectacular composer. Cedille(as a Chicago-based company) has done good work for Sowerby on disc.

[eschiss1]

I don't tell people they'll come around to something if they just give it more time - after all, I haven't. The lack of respect for differing taste in Tapiola's statement that others - me, for example- "pretend" to enjoy e.g. Roger Sessions' music - doesn't just bewilder me, it infuriates me.


Just saying.