# SS 09.03.19 - Sessions #2



## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

A continuation of the Saturday Symphonies Tradition:

Welcome to another weekend of symphonic listening! 
_*
*For your listening pleasure this weekend:*

Roger Sessions **(1896 - 1985)*

Symphony No. 2

1. Molto Agitato - Tranquillo e misterioso__ 
2. Allegretto capriccioso__
3. Adagio tranquillo ed espressivo__
4. Allegramente__
---------------------

Post what recording you are going to listen to giving details of Orchestra / Conductor / Chorus / Soloists etc - Enjoy!_


----------



## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

Another weekend is here and another symphony has been posted. This week it's American composer Roger Sessions's Second Symphony. I am not too familiar with Sessions. I believe I have heard all his symphonies but don't recall much about them so I will be looking forward to hearing this one again.

I think there are only a couple recordings of this one so I'll post a YouTube link which is also the recording I will be listening to:




Herbert Blomstedt/San Francisco Symphony Orchestra


----------



## D Smith (Sep 13, 2014)

I'll listen to this live recording by Botstein and the American Symphony. Never heard this one.


----------



## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

D Smith said:


> I'll listen to this live recording by Botstein and the American Symphony. Never heard this one.


Likewise, new for me and same version


----------



## cougarjuno (Jul 1, 2012)

Digging deep into the CD library for this. Haven't listened to this in probably 15 years. Glad to hear what I've been missing from this respected American composer who was born in my hometown of Brooklyn, NY.

Blomstedt and San Francisco for me from the CD coupled with Harbison no. 2 and Oboe Concerto


----------



## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

tough nut to crack!! I have Mitropoulos/NYPO....been working on this one for awhile


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I have no liner notes, but could always read this (I guess). 

Danchenka, Gary Robert (1981). "Quantitative Measurement of Information Content via Recurring Associations in Three Movements of Symphony No. 2 by Roger Sessions". Ph.D. diss. Coral Gables: University of Miami.


----------



## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

I will try the Youtube later on, no idea what to expect.


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I gave a quick listen and decided to sit this one out. BTW Sessions was John Adams' teacher and refused to consider his pupil's more conservative compositions. "Don't bring that stuff in here," Adams reports him saying. Adams describes their relationship as "difficult".


----------



## Mika (Jul 24, 2009)

cougarjuno said:


> Digging deep into the CD library for this. Haven't listened to this in probably 15 years. Glad to hear what I've been missing from this respected American composer who was born in my hometown of Brooklyn, NY.
> 
> Blomstedt and San Francisco for me from the CD coupled with Harbison no. 2 and Oboe Concerto


My choice. Found this from spotify


----------



## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Don't have this and had never heard any Sessions until half an hour ago. This is the Blomstedt account. Won't be one I'll be returning too. Sorry.


----------



## MrMeatScience (Feb 15, 2015)

Blomstedt/SFSO for me too. Sessions is a name I've seen mentioned frequently but never actually bothered to listen to before, so I'm going in more or less blind.


----------



## Bill Cooke (May 20, 2017)

I have the Blomstedt CD in my collection, but haven't listened to it in 25 years! I remember being impressed by Sessions' "The Black Masker's Suite" and for a time picking up whatever else of his I could find. The symphony isn't bad, but not terribly memorable either. I just played Harbison's Oboe Concerto on the same disc, and I like it a bit more.


----------



## D Smith (Sep 13, 2014)

Well, I listened to this and it left me flat, with no reaction whatsoever. The composer was obviously talented but whatever he was trying to say was lost on me. Doubtful I'll be listening to this again but thanks as always for suggesting different works to explore, rdb.


----------



## Malx (Jun 18, 2017)

I gave the Blomstedt recording a try on Spotify. 
I liked it enough to make a note to myself to listen again soon.
It is not the kind of piece that grabs you immediately but one that I believe will reveal layers after additional listens.

View attachment 114134


----------



## sharkeysnight (Oct 19, 2017)

Wow, I really, really like this. Kind of puckish in its refusal to play nice (that ending!), but the textures are so beautiful and the interplay feels like the music itself is suffering an anguished deliberation. Absolutely fascinating - has anyone ever set this to ballet?


----------

