Roger Sessions: When Lilacs Last In The Dooryard Bloom'd

Dominic Cossa (Performer), Roger Sessions (Composer), Michael Steinberg (Conductor), Seiji Ozawa (Conductor), Florence Quivar (Performer), Boston Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), Esther Hinds (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Dominic Cossa, Florence Quivar, Esther Hinds
• Orchestra: Boston Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: Michael Steinberg, Seiji Ozawa
• Composer: Roger Sessions
• Audio CD (December 8, 1992)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: New World Records
• ASIN: B0000030D0
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #44,374 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "The night in silence under many a star...", January 8, 2009

By 

Del Darmstadt (Massachusetts, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Roger Sessions: When Lilacs Last In The Dooryard Bloom'd (Audio CD)

I've recently become fascinated with this composition, based on the Walt Whitman elegy upon the death of Lincoln. Sessions composed the cantata, one of his largest works, in 1971. It's scored for soprano, contralto, baritone, mixed chorus and orchestra, and dedicated to the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Coming from a composer known for being academic and difficult, this work is surprisingly heartfelt. The composer's eccentric melodicism is at its most ravishing.

The cantata has three movements. Its brief prelude begins on the theme that conjures up the fragrant lilacs throughout the work. As the soloists and choir soar through Whitman's poetry, we also hear the flute, piccolo and xylophone introducing the vaulting motif that evokes the song of the hermit thrush, the soul of the piece. The longer second movement is a funeral march that develops the themes of death and loss. Themes describe the train that carries the coffin of the fallen as well as the 'Sea-winds, blown from east and west.' The vast finale is a meditation on mortality that ends by disappearing suddenly into the shadows that haunt most of Sessions's nocturnal work.

You might not be familiar with Lilacs because it only seems to have been recorded once, on this New World Records 1977 performance by the Boston SO under Seiji Ozawa. Florence Quivar isn't the most emphatic mezzo you've ever heard, and the Tanglewood Chorus sometimes lacks intensity. However, Esther Hinds and Dominic Cossa are terrific. The BSO demonstrate real focus throughout this unconventional cantata. It's a real delight.