Christopher Rouse - Symphony No. 6 (Louis Langrée)

Information

Composer: Christopher Rouse

• Symphony No. 6

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

Louis Langrée, conductor

Date: 2023

Label: Fanfare Cincinnati

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Description

The American composer Christopher Rouse (who died in 2019 aged 70) had a muscular and powerful musical voice, capable of great expression and wide appeal. He was a committed symphonist, writing six in all—this final one was commissioned by the Cincinnati Orchestra who premiered it a month after Rouse’s death.

Rouse’s last symphony serves as a personal epitaph, written in the full knowledge of his impending end. It is cast in a traditional four movements in which, like Mahler’s Ninth (which partly served as a model), its two faster movements are enclosed within two slow ones. Rouse writes movingly for the flugelhorn, its mournful sound regularly punctuating the work. The symphony’s masterstroke comes in the finale with a low drone played by the double basses, evoking Rouse’s body clinging to life. And then it stops. 

Louis Langrée directs this major addition to the American symphonic tradition with palpable conviction.

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Christopher Rouse (15 February 1949 – 21 September 2019) was an American composer. Educated at Oberlin Conservatory and Cornell University, he studied with George Crumb and Karel Husa and later taught at the Eastman School of Music and The Juilliard School. His works were performed by major orchestras worldwide, and he gained particular acclaim for his concertos written for leading soloists. Rouse received numerous honors, including a Grammy Award and the Pulitzer Prize. His final composition, Symphony No. 6, premiered posthumously in 2019, marking the culmination of an influential career.

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Louis Langrée (born 11 January 1961) is a French conductor. His career began after studies at the Strasbourg Conservatory, progressing through major European opera houses and festivals. He has held leadership roles with the Orchestre de Picardie, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Liège, Lyon National Opera, Glyndebourne Touring Opera and Camerata Salzburg. In the United States, he directed the Mostly Mozart Festival for 21 years (2002–23), and the Cincinnati Symphony for 11 (2013–24). Appointed director of the Opéra-Comique in 2021, Langrée is internationally recognized as an ambassador of the French operatic repertoire.

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