ABSTRACT
In Paris in December 1955 Easley Blackwood completed his First Symphony, the work which established his name in the United States. Symphony No.2 was composed in 1960 to mark the centenary of his publisher G. Schirmer Inc. Blackwood devoted six years to writing his most ambitious work, Symphony No.4. The finger prints of Sibelius and other late-Romantic era composers are present in Blackwood’s Fifth Symphony, in the music’s spacious sweep and serene, unhurried melodies.’ Symphony No.5 was commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra on the instigation of Dennis Russell Davies, and dedicated to their manager Stephen Sell, who died before the score was complete. Corigliano was driven to compose his Symphony as a response to the devastating AIDS epidemic in the United States. The Third Symphony was composed for David Zinman and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra who gave the premiere.
