Thomson, V.: Symphonies Nos. 2 And 3 / Symphony On A Hymn Tune

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Cat No: 8559022

Release Date: 01 January 2000

Label: Naxos / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 636943902226

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: THOMSON, V.

Description
Virgil Thomson (1896-1989) Symphony on a Hymn Tune (1928) Symphony No.2 in C major (1931/41) Symphony No.3 (1972)Pilgrims and Pioneers (1964)In the 1940s Virgil Thomson provided thefollowing short biographical sketch of himself: '1 was born in Kansas City,Missouri (25 November 1896); grew up there and went to war from there That wasthe other war. Then I was educated some more in Boston and Paris. Incomposition I was a pupil of Nadia Boulanger. While I was still young, I taughtmusic at Harvard and played the organ at King's Chapel, Boston. Then I returnedto Paris and lived there for many years, till the Germans came, in fact. Now Ilive in New York, where I am Music Critic of the New York Herald-Tribune.'My best-known works are the opera Four Saint, in Three Acts (libretto byGertrude Stein), The Plow that Broke thePlains and The River (filmsby Pare Lorentz), though there are also symphonies and string quartets and manyother works in many forms. I have made over a hundred musical portraits, 100,al! of them drawn from life, the sitter posing for me as he would for anartist's portrait'.When Virgil Thomson passed away in New YorkCity on 30 September 1989, the world lamented the death of a musician'smusician Leonard Bernstein remarked in the NewYork Times 'The death of Virgil T. is like the death of an Americancity: it is intolerable. But perhaps it was almost as hard to live with him, aswithout him Virgil was loving and harsh, generous and mordant, simple butcynical, son of the hymnal yet highly sophisticated. We all loved his music andrarely performed it. Most of us preferred his unpredictable, provocative prose.But he will always remain brightly alive in the history of music, if only forthe extraordinary influence his witty and simplistic music had on hiscolleagues, especially on Aaron Copland, and through them on most of Americanmusic in our century'.Thomson left a legacy of over 150compositions which skilfully melded American and cosmopolitan influences. Hiswritings on music ranged from aesthetics to new trends in world music. Hechampioned elevating musical standards and taste and wrote some of the mostelegant, urbane and intelligent commentaries on music and musicians. He was aconductor and pianist, and one of the first American composer' to writeextensively for motion pictures. He received numerous honors, including thePulitzer Prize (1948), the Legion d'honneur (1947),twenty honorary doctorates (among them Harvard, Columbia and New YorkUniversities), the gold medal for music from the National Academy and Instituteof Arts and Letters, and in 1983 he was awarded the Kennedy Center Honor forlifetime achievement.Symphony on a Hymn TuneThe first three movements of the Symphony on a Hymn Tune were written inParis in 1926. Two years later Virgil Thomson completed and orchestrated thework, returning to it again in 1945 for some slight revision. It received itsfirst concert performance in New York, with the composer conducting thePhilharmonic Symphony So
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