Impressions: Music for Piano by Leo Sowerby

On this CD:

1. Folktunes (3) From Somerset, H. 113 The Cuckoo
Composed by Leo Sowerby

2. Folktunes (3) From Somerset, H. 113 Lord Rendal
Composed by Leo Sowerby

3. Folktunes (3) From Somerset, H. 113 My Man John
Composed by Leo Sowerby

4. Florida Suite, H. 197 River Night
Composed by Leo Sowerby

5. Florida Suite, H. 197 St. Augustine
Composed by Leo Sowerby

6. Florida Suite, H. 197 Cypress Swamp
Composed by Leo Sowerby

7. Florida Suite, H. 197 Sun-drenched Psalms
Composed by Leo Sowerby

8. Florida Suite, H. 197 Pines et Sunset
Composed by Leo Sowerby

9. From the Northland: Impressions of Lake Superior Country, K. 167 Forest Voices
Composed by Leo Sowerby

10. From the Northland: Impressions of Lake Superior Country, K. 167 Cascades
Composed by Leo Sowerby

11. From the Northland: Impressions of Lake Superior Country, K. 167 Burnt Rock Pool
Composed by Leo Sowerby

12. From the Northland: Impressions of Lake Superior Country, K. 167 The Lonely Fiddle Maker
Composed by Leo Sowerby

13. From the Northland: Impressions of Lake Superior Country, K. 167 The Shining Big Sea-Water
Composed by Leo Sowerby

14. Money Musk; A Country Dance Tune, H. 145a
Composed by Leo Sowerby

15. Fisherman's Tune, H. 161
Composed by Leo Sowerby

16. The Irish Washerwoman A Country Dance Tune, K.115a
Composed by Leo Sowerby

17. L'Amor di quei duo (The Two Leftovers)/A Milanese Popular Song, H. 115a
Composed by Leo Sowerby

Tracks:

Program Ov: Comes Autumn Time
Poem After Carl Sandburg: Prairie
Poem After Carl Sandburg: Theme In Yellow
From The Northland - Impressions Of The Lake Superior Country: I. Forest Voices
From The Northland - Impressions Of The Lake Superior Country: II. Cascades
From The Northland - Impressions Of The Lake Superior Country: III. Burnt Rock Pool
From The Northland - Impressions Of The Lake Superior Country: IV. The Shining Big-Sea Water

Album Description

Midwestern composer Leo Sowerby's colorful and evocative symphonic poems can be heard for the first time on CD via a new Cedille Records release, the first in a two-disc series showcasing Sowerby's symphonic music for a new generation of listeners. This CD includes the picturesque orchestral suite From the Northland: Impressions of the Lake Superior Country; the lively "program overture" Comes Autumn Time; and two Carl Sandburg-inspired tone poems: the wryly rollicking, Bolero-like Theme in Yellow with its images of Halloween jack-o'-lanterns, and the remarkably vivid and inventive Prairie, the title track, widely considered to be Sowerby's finest orchestral work. Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians calls Sowerby a "remarkable American composer . . . eclectic in the positive sense of the word." Sowerby drew inspiration from American folk music, blues, and jazz, as well as traditional Western concert and sacred music, notes The New Grove Dictionary of American Music. In fact, Sowerby was one of the first serious composers to introduce elements of jazz into the larger musical forms. In 1938, the Musical Quarterly observed, "This 20th century American composes for the present as a part of it, and for the future perhaps even more than he realizes." From the Northland: Impressions of Lake Superior Country (1922) was inspired by a motor trip to the Canadian woods around Lakes Superior and Huron. Autumn was Sowerby's favorite season, and he was repeatedly attracted to autumnal themes and texts. Based on a Sandburg poem of the same name, Theme in Yellow (1937) received its premiere performance -- and until this world premiere recording, its only performance -- on a CBS Radio broadcast from New York, July 31, 1938, with the CBS Symphony conducted by Howard Barlow. Sowerby likely never heard the piece performed: he was overseas during the broadcast and later lost the score and parts. The CD uses a new score prepared by James Winfield of Chicago, who relied on Sowerby's uncommonly complete pencil sketch and compared it with air-check recordings of the 1938 broadcast. The disc's title track, Prairie (1929), was also based on a Sandburg poem. (The poet and composer were mutual admirers.) A 1934 Time magazine profile of Sowerby said the composer asks listeners to "imagine being alone in an Illinois cornfield . . . at peace and one with the beauty that is about."