Roger Sessions, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa

Of the numerous settings of Walt Whitman’s poetry, and this poem in particular, Sessions's is generally agreed to be one of the very finest and most sensitive. His mature style - a highly personal, instantly recognizable mix of severity and control with passion and serenity - projects the poetry now in simple chordal declamation, now in the long, high-arched melodies of which he is the master, conveying wonderfully the feel and variety of Whitman’'s lines. Over the years, Sessions's elegy has taken its place as one of the cornerstones of the American choral repertory.