Works by Copland, Sessions, Perle, Rands

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
This anthology of orchestral works was conceived as a tribute to the late Francis Goelet, who was America’s greatest musical philanthropist, especially in the commissioning of new works. His generous support led to the commissioning of these pieces, all of which, except for the Copland, are making their first appearance on CD.

Aaron Copland’s last major orchestral work, Inscape (1967), completes a line of development that began essentially with the Piano Variations (1930) and continued intermittently over the composer’s creative lifespan. These are the chromatic works, the lean or even severe antidotes to his more popular style. Over the course of this development one finds Copland taking an increasing interest in the techniques associated with the twelve-tone method.

Roger Sessions’s Symphony No. 8 (1968) is in two compact movements that are joined together without a pause between them. The tragic tone of the first movement, solemn and dirge-like, gives way to virile exuberance in the faster tempo of the second movement. Throughout, the idiom is richly chromatic; musical space is articulated at its limits by tuba and contrabassoon below and piccolo and glockenspiel above. The music surges forward despite a complex network of counterpoint.

George Perle’s Transcendental Modulations (1993) presents a succession of character images, contrasting in mood and including even a trace of jazz in the bass pizzicatos toward the end. Musical ideas (such as the bubbling-up of clarinets at the opening) reappear at different pitch levels (such as down a sixth in bassoons at bar twenty-four) to effect changes in tonality (as well as timbre). Twelve distinct tempos are carefully linked by common pulses.

The unusual title of Bernard Rands’s "...where the murmurs die..." (1993), is a fragment from an early poem of Samuel Beckett, a writer to whom the composer has more than once turned for inspiration. An Italianate lyricism and clarity pervade this delicately scored work showing, perhaps, the influence of Rands’s early studies with Luigi Dallapiccola and Luciano Berio. Contributing to the distinctive coloration is the elaborate use of different types of mutes in the brass instruments. Correspondingly, the strings are often instructed to place their bows close to the bridge, creating the glassy timbral effect known as sul ponticello.

Of related interest:
80368 Aaron Copland—Connotations
80359 George Perle—Piano Works
80342 George Perle—Wind Quintets
80392 Bernard Rands—Canti dell’Eclisse
80296 Roger Sessions—When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d
80345 Roger Sessions—Symphonies Nos. 4 and 5
80368 Roger Sessions—Black Maskers Suite
80443 Roger Sessions—Piano Concerto
80546 Roger Sessions—Piano Sonatas Nos. 2 and 3

Works by Copland, Sessions, Perle, Rands, Music, Aaron Copland, George Perle, Bernard Rands, Roger Sessions, Leon Botstein, American Symphony Orchestra, 20th/21st Century Orchestral Work with Descriptive Title, Classical, Classical Collections-Composer Desc., Miscellaneous, Orchestral, Orchestral & Symphonic, Orchestral Music

Works by Copland, Sessions, Perle, Rands
Average customer rating:

An excellent collection of post-war American music

Works by Copland, Sessions, Perle, Rands

Manufacturer: New World Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Peter Lieberson: Neruda Songs

ASIN: B0009IORY8
Release Date: 2005-05-10

Tracks:

Inscape (Aaron Copland 1967)
Symphony No. 8, Adagio e mesto (Roger Sessions 1968)
Symphony No. 8, Allegro con brio (Roger Sessions 1968)
Transcendental Modulations (George Perle 1993)
...where the murmurs die...(Bernard Rands 1995)

Product Description

This anthology of orchestral works was conceived as a tribute to the late Francis Goelet, who was AmericaÂ’s greatest musical philanthropist, especially in the commissioning of new works. His generous support led to the commissioning of these pieces, all of which, except for the Copland, are making their first appearance on CD. Aaron CoplandÂ’s last major orchestral work, Inscape (1967), completes a line of development that began essentially with the Piano Variations (1930) and continued intermittently over the composerÂ’s creative lifespan. These are the chromatic works, the lean or even severe antidotes to his more popular style. Over the course of this development one finds Copland taking an increasing interest in the techniques associated with the twelve-tone method. Roger SessionsÂ’s Symphony No. 8 (1968) is in two compact movements that are joined together without a pause between them. The tragic tone of the first movement, solemn and dirge-like, gives way to virile exuberance in the faster tempo of the second movement. Throughout, the idiom is richly chromatic; musical space is articulated at its limits by tuba and contrabassoon below and piccolo and glockenspiel above. The music surges forward despite a complex network of counterpoint. George PerleÂ’s Transcendental Modulations (1993) presents a succession of character images, contrasting in mood and including even a trace of jazz in the bass pizzicatos toward the end. Musical ideas (such as the bubbling-up of clarinets at the opening) reappear at different pitch levels (such as down a sixth in bassoons at bar twenty-four) to effect changes in tonality (as well as timbre). Twelve distinct tempos are carefully linked by common pulses. The unusual title of Bernard RandsÂ’s "...where the murmurs die..." (1993), is a fragment from an early poem of Samuel Beckett, a writer to whom the composer has more than once turned for inspiration. An Italianate lyricism and clarity pervade this delicately scored work showing, perhaps, the influence of RandsÂ’s early studies with Luigi Dallapiccola and Luciano Berio. Contributing to the distinctive coloration is the elaborate use of different types of mutes in the brass instruments. Correspondingly, the strings are often instructed to place their bows close to the bridge, creating the glassy timbral effect known as sul ponticello. Of related interest: 80368 Aaron CoplandÂ—Connotations 80359 George PerleÂ—Piano Works 80342 George PerleÂ—Wind Quintets 80392 Bernard RandsÂ—Canti dellÂ’Eclisse 80296 Roger SessionsÂ—When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard BloomÂ’d 80345 Roger SessionsÂ—Symphonies Nos. 4 and 5 80368 Roger SessionsÂ—Black Maskers Suite 80443 Roger SessionsÂ—Piano Concerto 80546 Roger SessionsÂ—Piano Sonatas Nos. 2 and 3

Customer Reviews:

An excellent collection of post-war American music.......2005-12-23

This disc, subtitled "The Vision of Francis Goelet", pays tribute to a man whose influence on post-war American art music is often underrated. Goelet, though no composer himself, contributed mightily to the music scene by commissioning well over a hundred works, often by emerging composers, and helping to fund many recordings, particularly on the New World Records label, which he was a major financial supporter of.

Paying homage to this figure, the American Symphony Orchestra under Leon Botstein perform four Goelet-supported commissions. These fit neatly into two pairs: extrovert, dramatic 1960s works by the Grand Old Men of American music, Aaron Copland and Roger Sessions, contrasting with more intimate 1990s works by the lower-profile George Perle and Bernard Rands.

Inscape was Copland's last orchestral work, and it comes from a period in the composer's life where he was growing increasingly interested in Schoenbergian serialism. Though the work is stylistically very different from Copland's more populist work, the composer's personality shines clearly through in every bar. Inscape begins with a twelve-tone cluster that fades into intimate wind writing, which alternates with more vigorous passages for the full orchestra. At the end, the opening cluster chord returns, rounding the work off effectively.

Sessions' Eighth Symphony was, prior to this recording, the only one of his symphonies as yet unrecorded on CD. Brief and concise (the whole work consists of two movements lasting just under a quarter of an hour) it is cut from the same cloth as its two predecessors (once available on a fine Argo disc). The opening movement is a slow lament that grows out of a long, highly chromatic melody in the strings. It is succeeded by a vigorously rhythmic second movement whose coda returns to the melody that opened the work. This is a fine and highly expressive piece, with the composer's gifts for atonal counterpoint and neoclassical rhythmic sharpness constantly evident.

The second half of the disc begins with George Perle's Transcendental Modulations. This twenty-five-minute work can be loosely regarded as a study in continuous variations, as the same material constantly returns in differently transformed states throughout the work. For the most part the work is delicately scored and meditative in nature, though occasionally it becomes more aggressive. I am not particularly familiar with Perle's oeuvre in general, but this work struck me as stylistically influenced by Schoenberg, Berg and particularly late Stravinsky.

The biggest surprise to me on this disc was Bernard Rands' "...when the murmers die...", inspired by an early Beckett poem. This delightful piece develops a brief folk-like melody through waves of slowly increasing and decreasing tension, illuminated by some superb wind writing and delightfully shimmering orchestration (definitely shades of Rands' teacher Luigi Dallapiccola here).

This disc is an almost automatic recommendation, given that only the Copland has ever appeared on CD before. In particular, the Sessions and Rands works strike me as major pieces that would appeal to anyone other than diehard tonalists or extreme modernists. Performances seem more than up to scratch, though I find Dennis Russell Davies' reading of contemporary Sessions symphonies to have a tightness and tension which Botstein does not entirely match in this recording.

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