Gordon Sherwood: Introduction and Allegro

Gordon Sherwood (1929-2013): Introduction and Allegro Dmitri Mitropoulos conducting the New York Philharmonic on 5-5-1957 Illinois-born Gordon Sherwood composed "Introduction and Allegro" in 1956 and he identified the work as a "concluding section of a symphony." The Introduction is "vague, forboding, and undecided as to tonality," and the composer points out that it contains elements that are elaborated later in the Allegro. "It moves up from the low registers of the orchestra, gathering momentum as it does. The Allegro, which follows without pause, is a rondo based on a four note motif. It serves multiple purposes, as (among other things) accompaniment to the second subject, also in inversion. Fugal development is employed, also a skeletonized version of the first theme, restricted to its rhythmic outline." - quoted from the N.Y.Philharmonic program notes of 5-5-1957.