Ronald Patterson, violin; L'Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo; Lawrence Foster, Conductor; James Austin, trumpet; Wayne Crouse, viola; Byron Hester, flute; Houston Symphony Orchestra; Samuel Jones, Conductor
Paul Cooper’s Violin Concerto No. 2 was composed between 1980 and 1982 with the major portions completed in the Fall of 1981 while Cooper was living in Greenwich Village in New York City. The composer provides the following commentary: “The concerto’s three movements have very distinct modes: Mesto, Sereno, and Scorrevole Divertando Giubilante. In each movement there is appreciable flexibility in tempo; for example, the second movement alternates between a very slow and introspective section and joyous counterpart in double tempo. As with Stravinsky, I cannot begin composing until I have the tempi clearly fixed in my mind. The architecture, the durations and subsequently the specifics of pitches and rhythms, themes and counterpoint, all emanate from proportions that are established by the tempi.
Samuel Jones’s Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1972), was commissioned by the Shenandoah V alley Bicentennial Committee, and received its first performance in Woodstock, Virginia, on August 12, 1972, by the orchestra of the Shenandoah Valley Music Festival, the composer conducting. This work translates into symphonic terms the spirit of the passage from the Apocrypha (Ecclesiasticus 44:1-16) which begins, “Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers that begat us.”
Elegy (1963), composed in a short time during the dark days that followed the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, was first performed on December 8, 1963, by the Saginaw Symphony, the composer conducting. Written for string orchestra, the work is a brief musical statement of the feelings of grief and shock which swept the country and the world after the President’s death.
This title, originally issued on the CRI label, is now available as a burn-on-demand CD (CD-R) or download in MP3/320, FLAC or WAV formats. CD-Rs come in a protective sleeve; no print booklet or jewel case included. Liner notes are accessible via the link above.
Paul Cooper/Samuel Jones
| MP3/320 | $9.99 | |
| FLAC | $9.99 | |
| WAV | $9.99 | |
| CD-R | $9.99 |
A *.pdf of the notes may be accessed here free of charge.
Track Listing
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Violin Concerto No. 2: I - Mesto
Paul Cooper
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Violin Concerto No. 2: II - Sereno
Paul Cooper
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Violin Concerto No. 2: III - Scorrevole Diventando Giubilante
Paul Cooper
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Symphony No. 4 (Landscape): I - Eighth note = 72
Paul Cooper
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Symphony No. 4 (Landscape): II - As fast as possible; Eighth note = 160
Paul Cooper
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Symphony No. 4 (Landscape): III - Eighth note = 60
Paul Cooper
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Let Us Now Praise Famous Men
Samuel Jones
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Elegy
Samuel Jones
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