Rochberg: Symphony No. 5 / Black Sounds

Featuring

Christopher Lyndon-Gee
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Saarbrücken
George Rochberg

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Composer's Artistic Vision

George Rochberg's music is characterized by his extraordinary understanding of the nature of time, which he believed was liberated by twelve-tone composition and the post-war avant-garde.

Composer Biography

George Rochberg, born in 1918, was an accomplished pianist who played in jazz bands in New York City to work his way through college.

Compositional Technique

Black Sounds is closely based on Rochberg's 1964 composition Apocalyptica, with few changes in content for the adapted instrumentation.

Composition History

Black Sounds is an homage to Edgard Varèse, a composer Rochberg considered "the last Romantic" for his intense emotionalism.

Composition History

Rochberg's Symphony No. 5 was commissioned by John Edwards, manager of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, for the city's 1986 sesquicentennial.

Recording & Production

This album includes world premiere recordings of George Rochberg's Symphony No. 5 and Transcendental Variations.

Composition History

Transcendental Variations for string orchestra is derived from the slow movement of Rochberg's Third String Quartet of 1971-72, a watershed work in American music.