Music of Peter Mennin and Alberto Ginastera

Overview

Peter Mennin SYMPHONY NO.4, Alberto Ginastera MILENA – PHCD107

Peter Mennin    Symphony No.4

Alberto Ginastera  Milena for Soprano and Orchestra

Denver Symphony Orchestra     Brian Priestman, conductor         Mennin: Symphony No.4

Phyllis Curtin, soprano   Ginastera: Milena

PHCD 107 pairs two powerful mid‑20th‑century works by American composer Peter Mennin and Argentine master Alberto Ginastera, each exploring dramatic narrative through bold orchestral writing. Mennin’s Symphony No. 4 (“The Cycle”) blends choral intensity with symphonic architecture, while Ginastera’s Milena transforms Kafka’s letters into a gripping cantata for soprano and orchestra. This Phoenix USA edition features the Denver Symphony Orchestra under Brian Priestman, with Phyllis Curtin delivering a vivid interpretation of Ginastera’s emotionally charged score. Restored with archival clarity, PHCD 107 highlights the expressive depth and modernist energy of these two landmark compositions.

The Mennin Symphony No. 4 for Chorus and Orchestra, subtitled THE CYCLE, was begun in the summer of 1947 and completed in November 1948. The composer himself wrote the text for the chorus. It was commissioned by the Collegiate Chorale, which organization, assisted by members of the New York Philharmonic, gave the work its premiere, under the direction of Robert Shaw, at Carnegie Hall on March 18, 1949.

Milena Jesenska belonged to an old Czech family, and the correspondence whcih Kafka addressed to her began in 1920 and lasted two years. Ginastera relates: “Since my youth, when Kafka first became my favoite twentieth century author, these “letters to Milena” fascinated me because, in them, the cretor of fantastic and metaphysical stories becomes a man in love and heartsick. That is why, when the Institute of International Education of New York commissioned me to write a work in celebration of its fiftieth anniversary, I proposed this CANTATA FOR SOPRANO AND ORCHESTRA which had been on my mind for decades. I composed this work in 1971, after a silence of more than three years, which was broken when my wife, the cellist Aurora Natola, entered my life.”

Composer: Peter Mennin
Composer: Alberto Ginastera
Soprano: Phyllis Curtin
Conductor: Brian Priestman
Orchestra: Denver Symphony Orchestra
Catalog Number: PHCD 107

This Phoenix USA edition is sourced from archival materials and restored to highlight the dramatic power and orchestral color of both works.