The Composer Strikes Back

Evening Music | May 6, 2010
Perhaps we owe Randall Thompson's gorgeous choral anthems to the fact that he was turned down for a position in the Harvard Chorus by its director Archibald Davison (who later became Thompson's mentor). In the composer's words, "My life has been an attempt to strike back." Tonight, Evening Music celebrates the anniversary of Thompson's birth with his most famous work, the "Alleluia."

We'll also hear a couple of Thompson's more substantive works. Leonard Bernstein conducts the New York Philharmonic in the lush Symphony No. 2 in E Minor. Also, combining the best of both worlds (symphonic and choral, that is), Richard Auldon Clark leads the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra and the Manhattan Choral Society in "Frostiana."

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