A composer whose style changed considerably during his career, Riegger wrote a good deal of dance music in the 1930s but adopted the twelve-tone technique post-war. Even during his later years however Riegger sometimes reverted to a more romantic idiom.
WALLINGFORD RIEGGER: A CATALOGUE OF THE ORCHESTRAL AND CHORAL MUSIC
1916: Elegy for Cello and Orchestra
1922/28:"Triple Jazz"(American Polonaise) for orchestra, op.3: 8 minutes
1926: Rhapsody for orchestra,op.5
1927: Study in Sonority for ten(or multiples) violins, op.7: 7 minutes *
Holiday Sketches for violin and orchestra
1930: Fantasy and Fugue for Organ and Orchestra, op.10: 21 minutes + (CRI cd)
"In the Country" for school orchestra
1931: Dichotomy for chamber orchestra, op.12: 12 minutes *
1932: Scherzo for chamber orchestra, op.13: 7 minutes *
1933: Evocation for orchestra,op.17: 4 minutes
1935: New Dance for orchestra: 5 minutes * + (Cala cd)
Ballet for Band, op.18
1936: "Chronicle-Dance Piece" for orchestra, op.21
1938: "Machine Ballet"-Dance Piece for Piano and Orchestra, op.28
1939: "Consummation" for orchestra, op.31
1941: Canon and Fugue for strings or orchestra, op.33: 8 minutes + (CRI cd)
1942: Passacaglia and Fugue for orchestra or band, op.34: 8 minutes *
1943: Processional for band, op.36
1944: Symphony No.1, op.37 (withdrawn)
1945: "Little Black Samba" for small orchestra, op.40
Symphony No.2, op.41 (withdrawn)
1946-47/
1960: Symphony No.3, op.42: 26 minutes * + (CRI cd)
1948-49:Music for brass choir, op.45: 8 minutes + (CRI cd)
1951: Cantata "In Certainty of Song" for soprano, contralto, tenor, bass, chorus and chamber orchestra, op.46: 23 minutes
Music for Orchestra, op.50: 6 minutes + (CRI cd)
1953: Prelude and Fugue for band, op.52
Variations for Piano ( or Two Pianos) and Orchestra, op.54: 14 minutes + (First Edition cd)
1953-54:Suite for Younger Orchestra, op.56: 7 minutes
(and Romanza for string orchestra, op.56a: 3 minutes + (CRI cd))
1954: Dance Rhythms for orchestra or band, op.58: 6 minutes + (CRI cd)
"The Dying of the Light" for voice and orchestra, op.59: 4 minutes *
1955: Overture, op.60: 10 minutes
Preamble and Fugue for orchestra, op.61: 10 minutes
1956: Symphony No.4, op.63: 29 minutes * + (First Edition cd)
A Shakespeare Sonnet for baritone, chorus and orchestra, op.65: 4 minutes
1957: Festival Overture, op.68: 10 minutes *
1958: Variations for Violin and Orchestra, op.71: 15 minutes + (First Edition cd)
"Quintuple Jazz" for orchestra, op.72: 7 minutes *
1959: Sinfonietta, op.73: 24 minutes *
1960: Introduction and Fugue for Cello and Concert Band, op.74: 8 minutes
Duo for Piano and Orchestra, op.75: 25 minutes
In Riegger's case his music for the dance is important. His opus 20 is a ballet score entitled With my Red Fires. Not only did he "mine" these scores to use in his later music - some of this score turns up in his Symphony #4 - the scenarios reflect his essentially Marxist political views of the 1930s. At the time of his death he had begun a fifth symphony.
A two-piano version of Evocations appeared on an NMQR 78 rpm disc. Paul Creston and Edwin Gershchefski were the performers.
I have been curious about his first two symphonies for many years. Were they ever performed?
Symphony No.1 was premiered on April 3, 1949 in New York (whether by the New York Philharmonic or some other orchestra I do not know).