Prairie: Tone Poems by Leo Sowerby

Leo Sowerby (Artist), Paul Freeman (Artist), Czech National Symphony Orchestra (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 10, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Cedille
• ASIN: B0000018ZM
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #906,205 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Comes Autumn Time, overture for orchestra

2. Prairie, poem for Orchestra after Carl Sandburg

3. Theme in Yellow, poem for Orchestra after Carl Sandburg

4. From the Northland: Impressions of Lake Superior Country, for piano, H. 167: I. Forest Voices

5. From the Northland: Impressions of Lake Superior Country, for piano, H. 167: II. Cascades

6. From the Northland: Impressions of Lake Superior Country, for piano, H. 167: III. Burnt Rock Pool

7. From the Northland: Impressions of Lake Superior Country, for piano, H. 167: IV. The Shining Big-Sea Water

Editorial Reviews

Chicago Sun-Times

Considering this disc's exquisite recorded sound, a strong recommendation goes without saying.

Product Description

Midwestern composer Leo Sowerby's colorful and evocative symphonic poems can be heard for the first time on CD via a new Cedille Records release, the first in a two-disc series showcasing Sowerby's symphonic music for a new generation of listeners. This CD includes the picturesque orchestral suite From the Northland: Impressions of the Lake Superior Country; the lively "program overture" Comes Autumn Time; and two Carl Sandburg-inspired tone poems: the wryly rollicking, Bolero-like Theme in Yellow with its images of Halloween jack-o'-lanterns, and the remarkably vivid and inventive Prairie, the title track, widely considered to be Sowerby's finest orchestral work. Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians calls Sowerby a "remarkable American composer . . . eclectic in the positive sense of the word." Sowerby drew inspiration from American folk music, blues, and jazz, as well as traditional Western concert and sacred music, notes The New Grove Dictionary of American Music. In fact, Sowerby was one of the first serious composers to introduce elements of jazz into the larger musical forms. In 1938, the Musical Quarterly observed, "This 20th century American composes for the present as a part of it, and for the future perhaps even more than he realizes." From the Northland: Impressions of Lake Superior Country (1922) was inspired by a motor trip to the Canadian woods around Lakes Superior and Huron. Autumn was Sowerby's favorite season, and he was repeatedly attracted to autumnal themes and texts. Based on a Sandburg poem of the same name, Theme in Yellow (1937) received its premiere performance -- and until this world premiere recording, its only performance -- on a CBS Radio broadcast from New York, July 31, 1938, with the CBS Symphony conducted by Howard Barlow. Sowerby likely never heard the piece performed: he was overseas during the broadcast and later lost the score and parts. The CD uses a new score prepared by James Winfield of Chicago, who relied on Sowerby's uncommonly complete pencil sketch and compared it with air-check recordings of the 1938 broadcast. The disc's title track, Prairie (1929), was also based on a Sandburg poem. (The poet and composer were mutual admirers.) A 1934 Time magazine profile of Sowerby said the composer asks listeners to "imagine being alone in an Illinois cornfield . . . at peace and one with the beauty that is about."

See all Editorial Reviews