Conversations with Roger Sessions Quotes

“Sarah Caldwell told me that she was taken to see the place where Shostakovich lived, and he had a picture of me on his desk.”
― Andrea Olmstead, Conversations with Roger Sessions

“I’ve listed as a pupil of yours Peter Maxwell Davies. Although you say he’s never really formally studied with you, he says he studied with you. He was in Princeton, and I used to see him quite often. I had a lovely time with him. He’s extremely gifted. He’s one of the most gifted people living. I told him once, “It’s wonderful. I’m delighted to be called a teacher of yours.”
― Andrea Olmstead, Conversations with Roger Sessions

“He said, “I just couldn’t work it out myself, so I went to Berg and I said, ‘Look, you’ve got to help me with this. I can’t do it by myself.’ Berg said, ‘Oh, but that’s not what I want. I just don’t want them to be together.’” And that’s it.”
― Andrea Olmstead, Conversations with Roger Sessions

“You wouldn’t write a concerto with vocal accompaniment. It doesn’t work, that’s all.”
― Andrea Olmstead, Conversations with Roger Sessions

“Is that how you came upon the second row for the Ninth Symphony, or did you start with two rows? No, these were both independent ideas.”
― Andrea Olmstead, Conversations with Roger Sessions

“The first work of Roger Sessions I heard was the premiere of his Concerto for Violin and Violoncello in November of 1971 at the Juilliard School in New York. After the performance the violinist next to me commented, “Oh, it’s just another twelve-tone piece.”
― Andrea Olmstead, Conversations with Roger Sessions