The Symphony No. 6 of Roger Sessions, a symphony written using the twelve-tone technique, was composed in 1966. It was commissioned by the state of New Jersey and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.Andrea Olmstead, Roger Sessions: A Biography (New York: Routledge, 2008): 358. The score carries the dedication: "In celebration of the three hundredth anniversary of the state of New Jersey".Roger Sessions, Symphony No. 6 (Bryn Mawr, PA: Merion Music, Inc., 1975): 1.
History Sessions began composing the symphony in the summer of 1965 while traveling in South America, and completed it at Tanglewood in 1966. It is the first of a trilogy of symphonies, composed in rapid succession, which Sessions associated with the Vietnam war.Andrea Olmstead, "Roger Sessions Symphonies 6, 7 & 9", booklet accompanying CD recording, Roger Sessions Symphonies 6, 7 & 9, 3–5. Argo 444 519-2 (London: The Decca Record Company Limited, 1995): 3. The premiere was a disaster, with the finale still incomplete and the first movement played as a finale to make up for this; it was given its first complete performance and its New York premiere by the Juilliard Orchestra conducted by José Serebrier on 4 March 1977.; Andrea Olmstead, Roger Sessions: A Biography (New York: Routledge, 2008): 347, 357. (cloth); (pbk); (ebook). However, an anonymous item, "Concerts Mark Sessions' 70th", in Billboard (December 24, 1966): 41, states "Last month [i.e., November 1966], the first complete performance of his 'Symphony No. 6' was given by the New Jersey Symphony." It was published by 1976. The score bears the copyright year 1975.
Music The symphony is scored for 3 flutes, 3 oboes, 4 clarinets, 3 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, piano, harp, and strings.Symphony No. 6: Roger Sessions: Rental (Bryn Mawr, PA: Theodore Presser Co.)
It has three movements:
Andrea Olmstead describes all of Sessions's symphonies as "serious" and "funereal".Andrea Olmstead, Roger Sessions: A Biography (New York: Routledge, 2012): 356. .
Richard Swift describes the second movement as "lofty" and ascribes its "profundities to what are essentially simple processes that unwind with a sense of great spaciousness".Richard Swift, "Symphony no. 6 (1966) by Roger Sessions; Symphony no. 8, op. 106 by Vincent Persichetti", Notes (second series) 33, no. 2 :406–407. Citation on 407.
Discography Roger Sessions: Symphonies 6, 7 & 9. American Composers Orchestra, Dennis Russell Davies, cond. Recorded May 1994, Manhattan Center, New York. CC recording, 1 disc: digital, stereo, 4¾ in. Argo 444 519-2. London: The Decca Record Company Limited, 1995.
References
Further reading Imbrie, Andrew (1972). "The Symphonies of Roger Sessions". Tempo (new series), no. 103 (December): 24–32.