Virgil Thomson
American composer and critic
Virgil Thomson (November 25, 1896 – September 30, 1989) was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music. He has been described as a modernist, a neoromantic, a neoclassicist, and a composer of "an Olympian blend of humanity and detachment" whose "expressive voice was always carefully muted" until his late opera Lord Byron which, in contrast to all his previous work, exhibited an emotional content that rises to "moments of real passion".
Read more about this composer on Wikipedia.
Works
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- 3 Pictures for Orchestra
- 5 Portraits
- 5 Songs from William Blake
- Concerto for Flute, Strings, Harp and Percussion
- Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra
- Family Portrait
- Four Saints in Three Acts
- Hymns From the Old South
- Louisiana Story Suite
- Louisiana Story, Acadian Songs and Dances
- Mass for Two-Part Chorus and Percussion
- Power Among Men, Fugues and Cantilenas
- Praises and Prayers
- Sonata for Flute Alone
- Suite from "The River"
- Symphony no. 2 in C major
- Symphony no. 3
- Symphony on a Hymn Tune
- The Plow That Broke the Plains
- The Plow that Broke the Plains Suite
- The River
- Variations on Sunday School Tunes
Box sets & recent recordings
- The Complete Songs Of Virgil Thomson for voice and piano — Virgil Thomson, Florestan Recital Project (2016) box set · 77 tracks Spotify
- Thomson: Complete Chamber Works — Virgil Thomson, Monadnock Music, Gil Rose (2021) box set · 63 tracks Spotify
- Virgil Thomson: Portraits — Virgil Thomson, Jacquelin Helin (1993) box set · 43 tracks Spotify
- Virgil Thomson: Shape-Note Hymn Arrangements — Michigan State University Chorale, David Rayl (2022) Spotify
Box sets & recent releases via Spotify — surfaced automatically, not editorial picks.