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]
Discography
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.
References
^The last page of the score as published is signed with the date of completion.
^Olmstead, Andrea (2012). Roger Sessions: A Biography, p.356. Routledge.
ISBN9781135868925.
Further reading
Imbrie, Andrew (1972). "The Symphonies of Roger Sessions". Tempo (new series), no. 103 (December): 24–32.
Stern, Howard Gordon (2001). "Techniques of Formal Articulation and Association in the "Pastorale" of Roger Sessions' Symphony No. 4 and Cantata alla luna". PhD diss. Waltham: Brandeis University.
ISBN9780493142173.