The Symphony No. 4 of Roger Sessions was composed in 1958.The last page of the score as published is signed with the date of completion.
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 on January 2, 1960.
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.Prausnitz (2002), ; p. 281; Steinberg, , p. 253. The finale, also slow, increases in intensity towards its close.Badea's recording on New World; Marks Music score. Andrea Olmstead describes all of Sessions's symphonies as "serious" and "funereal".Olmstead, Andrea (2012). Roger Sessions: A Biography, p.356. Routledge. .
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
External links (public domain in the US only)
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. .