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LOG IN Forgot Login? Register General Discussion • Trading Post • Non-Film Score Discussion  Profile • Preferences • Community Rules • Help/Contact • Search Board Search Terms:  Search Within:  topics posts since 2019 2018 posts 2017 posts 2016 posts 2015 posts 2014 posts 2013 posts 2012 posts 2011 posts 2010 posts 2009 posts 2008 posts 2007 posts 2006 posts 2005 posts 2004 posts 2003 posts 2002 posts 2001 posts 2000 posts users  search tips  You must log in or register to post.   Go to page:  1      General Discussion: Virgil Thomson   Last Post   Posted:   Jul 19, 2009 - 3:44 PM     By:   kingtolkien   (Member) I recently bought virgil Thomson's The plow that broke the plains and the river and enjoying them immenselly. Beautiful Americana! Any thoughts?    Posted:   Jul 19, 2009 - 4:08 PM     By:   James MacMillan   (Member) I recently bought virgil Thomson's The plow that broke the plains and the river and enjoying them immenselly. Beautiful Americana! Any thoughts? Like you say, beautiful Americana and essential stuff. The two recordings of LOUISIANA STORY are worth investigating too, if you haven't heard them... - James.    Posted:   Jul 19, 2009 - 4:26 PM     By:   mgh   (Member) I also enjoy his symphonies; all three are on a Naxos disc. They are very much like his film scores.    Posted:   Jul 19, 2009 - 9:32 PM     By:   Preston Neal Jones   (Member) Americana is the operative word. He did a lot to pave the way for Copland, Gershwin, Harris, etc. He was probably at least as well known in his day as a wity, ascerbic music critic, whose reviews and essays are now available in book form. (He was one of several critics of the day who was notoriously dismissive of PORGY AND BESS.) Enjoy exploring his film scores and concert works.    Posted:   Jul 20, 2009 - 3:23 PM     By:   Bob DiMucci   (Member) The films are worth seeking out as well, if for no other reason than to see what Thomson was illustrating.    Posted:   Jul 20, 2009 - 5:09 PM     By:   sdtom   (Member) There is a DVD, put out by Naxos, off the Lorentz films with the music of course. Very nice. Thomas    Posted:   Jul 20, 2009 - 5:35 PM     By:   markbagby   (Member) There is a DVD, put out by Naxos, off the Lorentz films with the music of course. Very nice. Thomas Even better, it has both the original recording and a brand new, restored, pristine version that's been re-recorded and released on a separate CD. And it's fairly cheap, to boot.    Posted:   Mar 30, 2016 - 12:55 PM     By:   Bob DiMucci   (Member) I recently discovered that Virgil Thomson composed the score for the 1958 Kim Stanley film THE GODDESS, a fictionalized version of the Marilyn Monroe story. In looking at the title on a list of Thomson's works, I saw the following notation: Instrumentation notes: 2222/223.3sx.0/2perc/gtr.pf/str Can anyone offer an interpretation of this?    Posted:   Mar 30, 2016 - 1:58 PM     By:   Rozsaphile   (Member) I recently discovered that Virgil Thomson composed the score for the 1958 Kim Stanley film THE GODDESS, a fictionalized version of the Marilyn Monroe story. In looking at the title on a list of Thomson's works, I saw the following notation: Instrumentation notes: 2222/223.3sx.0/2perc/gtr.pf/str Can anyone offer an interpretation of this? I'm guessing two-each of the standard woodwinds/two trumpets, two trombones, three horns, three saxophones (?!), no tuba/two percussionists/guitar and piano/standard string complement    Posted:   Mar 30, 2016 - 2:55 PM     By:   Sean Nethery   (Member) So glad you all posted on this thread. I've not listened to any Virgil Thomson in ever so long, and have just found a goodly selection of his works on Spotify. That will be a nice change.    Posted:   Mar 30, 2016 - 4:49 PM     By:   TerraEpon   (Member) I'd guess the 'sx' is saxhorns, actually, given their position in the brass.    Posted:   Mar 30, 2016 - 7:56 PM     By:   bobbengan   (Member) Always liked his music as well, it's very charming and accessible. He was one of the composers who very ably helped define the American language of symphonic music, threads of which were of course expanded upon by Copland and then in turn later informed the big, cinematic "Americana" sound of some of our own beloved film composers like Moross, Williams, Broughton, Horner and so forth when they wrote in that idiom as well.    Posted:   Aug 13, 2018 - 3:02 PM     By:   Bob DiMucci   (Member) Pare Lorentz made his documentary film THE PLOW THAT BROKE THE PLAINS in 1936 during the Great Depression. In 1942, Virgil Thomson turned his musical score for the film into an independent suite for orchestra. Another Lorentz film of similar spirit, THE RIVER, was made in 1937, and Thomson likewise turned his score for that one into an orchestral suite. The Leopold Stokowski recording of the pieces with the (NBC) Symphony of the Air was released by Vanguard in 1961.    Posted:   Aug 13, 2018 - 11:48 PM     By:   bobbengan   (Member) Looks like I shared some thoughts on this man's music two years ago, and while I still find his output charming and enjoyable, does anyone else find his music almost absurdly... Simple? I can't claim to heard his entire corpus of work but THE RIVER and PLOW THAT BROKE THE PLAINS has some absurdly simple writing and orchestration going on, like he was afraid of ever having multiple voices or strong contrapuntal passages ever occurring at once. I'm not sure if he was simply "scoring down" because he thumbed his nose at film music as an art form and didn't take the commission as seriously as he would have a concert work, but the whole of these two scores sound rather like something written by someone who was only just beginning to figure out how to write, arrange and harmonize... A little ironic for someone reputed to as such a sharp-tongued music critic, no?    Posted:   Aug 14, 2018 - 8:23 AM     By:   Dr. Nigel Channing   (Member) I return to Thomson's work every couple of years and still enjoy it. I particularly enjoy his "Symphony on a Hymn Tune," one of his earliest works. I highly recommend his autobiography which is especially effective at capturing the flavor of his years in Paris, where he studied with the legendary Nadia Boulanger.    Posted:   Aug 14, 2018 - 8:27 AM     By:   bobbengan   (Member) Nadia Boulanger sure reared some amazing composers. I recall Laurence Rosenthal saying he studied under her, too!     General Discussion: Virgil Thomson    < 1  >   Go to page:  1   First Post    General Discussion • Trading Post • Non-Film Score Discussion  Profile • Preferences • Community Rules • Help/Contact • Search Board You must log in or register to post.   Go to page:  1

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