Notes and Editorial Reviews
Sessions' music is not for the casual listener or someone just getting into modern music. If you start cold with one of the later symphonies, it's like jumping into the middle of a book on advanced physics. But if you start at the beginning and work your way through, you will enjoy some of the most profound music written by an American.
The early works might bear a passing resemblance to Copland, but by the later works it is obvious that Sessions has absorbed the complex sound world explored by Schoenberg and has refined it. In all of his music, you are struck by the realization that these intense works are truly music, and not mere exercises in sonority. That is why this reissue is so important: spanning his creative
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lifetime, this collection of the complete solo piano works will give you a remarkable insight into this most significant of modern American composers.
Barry David Salwen has been the Executive Director of the Roger Sessions Society since 1988. Besides specializing in new music, he has performed widely the music on this disc as part of his original lecture-recital, "The Piano Sonatas of Roger Sessions," first presented in 1986. This and his contact with the composer during his doctoral work at Juilliard make him the authoritative performer. This CD is a major contribution to the recorded Sessions canon.
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Works on This Recording
1.
Sonata for Piano no 1 by Roger Sessions
Performer:
Barry David Salwen (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1927-1930; USA
Length: 15 Minutes 14 Secs.
2.
From My Diary by Roger Sessions
Performer:
Barry David Salwen (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1937-1940
Length: 8 Minutes 18 Secs.
3.
Sonata for Piano no 2 by Roger Sessions
Performer:
Barry David Salwen (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1946; USA
Length: 11 Minutes 32 Secs.
4.
Pieces (5) for Piano by Roger Sessions
Performer:
Barry David Salwen (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1974-1975; USA
Length: 14 Minutes 44 Secs.
5.
Waltz for Piano by Roger Sessions
Performer:
Barry David Salwen (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1977-1978
Length: 1 Minutes 15 Secs.
6.
Sonata for Piano no 3 "Kennedy" by Roger Sessions
Performer:
Barry David Salwen (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1964-1965
Length: 20 Minutes 48 Secs.
Sound Samples
Pages from a Diary, "From my Diary": I. Poco adagio
Pages from a Diary, "From my Diary": II. Allegro con brio
Pages from a Diary, "From my Diary": III. Larghissiimo e misterioso
Pages from a Diary, "From my Diary": IV. Allegro pesante
Piano Sonata No. 2: I. Allegro con fuoco
Piano Sonata No. 2: II. Lento
Piano Sonata No. 2: III. Misurato e pesante
5 Pieces: No. 2. Con fuoco
5 Pieces: No. 4. Molto agitato
5 Pieces: No. 5. Molto adagio
Piano Sonata No. 3: I. Adagio e misterioso
Piano Sonata No. 3: II. Molto allegro e con fuoco
Piano Sonata No. 3: III. Lento e molto tranquillo
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