Virgil Thomson was born in Kansas City, Missouri, but spent much of the 1920s and 1930s in Paris, where his circle included such artistic giants as James Joyce, Pablo Picasso, and especially Gertrude Stein, with whom he formed a legendary friendship. Much of Thomson’s early music, which comprises settings of Stein’s poetry and the Synthetic Waltzes, balances modernity and classicism; his Sonata for Violin and Piano is informed by the spirit of neo-romanticism that later spread in Paris. Yet all along his style also manifested truly ‘American’ qualities. Returning to the U.S. in 1940, he became the influential music critic of the New York Herald Tribune. His later compositions, bursting with lyricism, include his glorious settings of Thomas Campion’s poetry and the two contrasting vocal works of 1963, Praises and Prayers and Two by Marianne Moore.
Synthetic Waltzes
1 Synthetic Waltzes 05:01
Thomson, Virgil
Campion, Thomas - Lyricist
4 Songs to Poems of Thomas Campion
2 Follow your saint 02:16
3 There is a garden in her face 01:57
4 Rose cheek'd Laura, come! 02:54
5 Follow thy fair sun 02:34
Thomson, Virgil
Violin Sonata
6 I. Allegro 03:17
7 II. Andante nobile 02:58
8 III. Tempo di Valzer 01:27
9 IV. Andante - Doppio movimento 05:13
Thomson, Virgil
Moore, Marianne - Lyricist
2 by Marianne Moore
10 English Usage 02:27
11 My Crow Pluto 02:15
Thomson, Virgil
Praises and Prayers
12 From "The Canticle of the Sun" (txt. St. Francis of Assisi) 05:51
13 My Master hath a garden (txt. Anon.) 01:49
14 Sung by the Shepherds (txt. Richard Crashaw) 04:28
15 Before Sleeping (txt. Anon.) 02:17
16 Jerusalem, my happy home (txt. St. Augustine) 04:08
