Symphony No. 4 (Sessions)
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The Symphony No. 4 of Roger Sessions was composed in 1958.[1]
It has three movements:
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]
- Roger Sessions: Symphony No. 4, Symphony No. 5, Rhapsody for Orchestra. Columbus Symphony Orchestra, Christian Badea, cond. Recorded April 6, 1986, at the Ohio Theatre, Columbus Ohio. LP recording, 1 disc: digital, stereo, 12 in. New World NW 345–1; CD recording, 1 disc: digital, stereo, 4¾ in. New World NW 345–2. New York: Recorded Anthology of American Music, 1987.
