Neglected Masterworks of American Composers

[pizza]

I was listening to Harold Shapero's 1947 Symphony for Classical Orchestra the other day and I can't understand why it's so rarely played and recorded. It's a major symphony in the tradition of Piston and Copland with distinctive, original themes, and has one of the finest slow movements of any symphony I've ever heard. It certainly deserves to be heard as often as the 3rd Symphonies of Copland, Harris and Schuman.

There's also Irving Fine's Symphony from 1962, in the same category; a badly neglected attractive work of substance and importance.

Both Shapero and Fine were Bostonians who studied with Boulanger and Piston, and who composed in the neo-classical tradition of Stravinsky before they found their own distinctive voices.

A few more composers and their works:

Wm. Schuman's Quartet No. 5, written at the end of his career in 1987, proves that he still had something original and important to say. I know of only one recording, a superb effort by the Lydian Quartet on Harmonia Mundi France, and unfortunately n/l/a.

Ruth Crawford Seeger's Quartet of 1931 deserves major attention.

Paul Creston's Gregorian Chant for String Orchestra is certainly the equal of Barber's overplayed Adagio for Strings but it's rarely programmed and I know of only one appearance, as filler on an old Vanguard recording of Roy Harris' Folksong Symphony; it's a much better work than the Harris!

Can anyone think of others that are buried in obscurity and ripe for discovery?

[Alberich]

Many. Too many to describe here.

For one - or for one composer -
Nicholas Flagello. His brooding,
romantic music can be described as "neglected," and, I
believe, "masterworks."
Flagello's three piano concertos and his Symphony 1 are
glorious examples of appealing contemporary
music.

[BWV 1080]

Stepan Wolpe is much neglected. His work from the late 50's and 60's is some of the most beautiful chamber music since Mozart

[pizza]

Alberich: I thought it was clear that the question applied to American composers. If not, I'll make it more clear now.

Can anyone think of other works by American composers that are buried in obscurity and ripe for discovery?

[BWV 1080]

I thought it was clear that the question applied to American composers. If not, I'll make it more clear now.

Can anyone think of other works by American composers that are buried in obscurity and ripe for discovery?

Stepan Wolpe lived and worked the majority of his career in the US. He was a US citizen. That makes him an American

[pizza]

I thought it was clear that the question applied to American composers. If not, I'll make it more clear now.

Can anyone think of other works by American composers that are buried in obscurity and ripe for discovery?

Stepan Wolpe lived and worked the majority of his career in the US. He was a US citizen. That makes him an American

I know. The first sentence was addressed to Alberich who mentioned Flagello. Although Flagello was born and partially educated in America, his work was steeped in European tradition. He was a protege of Vittorio Giannini and I find it difficult to think of him as a traditional American composer, although technically, of course, they both were American. I suppose Ernest Bloch was also, as he spent many productive years in America, but I think it's stretching it a bit to include him as an American composer, although I know many people do.

In any event, since the main purpose of the thread is to unearth neglected gems, it probably doesn't matter very much.

[jbuck919]

Well every time this comes up, I think of Roger Sessions. His violin concerto, to mention only one work, has been recorded only once and it is long out of print, and it is not an easy piece because Sessions was absolutely uncompromising, but it is gorgeous.

I have to go back to one of my college professors (not Babbitt), who remarked that there is a great deal more to American music than cowboy Copland on the one hand and weirdo Ives on the other. But a lot of it never hit the charts, so to speak. So I think Pizza has raised a very worthwhile subject, not that I have gone out of my way to fill the gap myself.

[Heck148]

....who remarked that there is a great deal more to American music than cowboy Copland on the one hand and weirdo Ives on the other. But a lot of it never hit the charts, so to speak. So I think Pizza has raised a very worthwhile subject, not that I have gone out of my way to fill the gap myself.

yes indeed, there is so much good American music that does not get adequate exposure...it's hard to know where to begin....

[PJME]

Charles Martin Loeffler is definitely a composer I would like to know better.what I've heard ( Music for strings on Naxos, La mort de Tintagiles( orchestra with viola d'amore solo) & 5 Irish Fantasies for tenor & orchestra on New World Records, Stokowski conducting "Pagan poem") should appeal to those who like late Romantic/ impressionistic music.

Virgil Thompson was not impressed with Loeffler's "Memories of my childhood" (...old fashioned impressionism of the Franco-Bostonian school...." in Music reviewed 1940-1954) , even if Toscanini was the conductor! I've heard only Howard Hanson on a 1954 Mercury LP - and found it very engaging.

Roger Sessions (I have symphonies 2,8 and 9) is high on my want list ...
and so is Wallingford Riegger.

[Gary]

George Antheil's ballet Capital of the World

William Schuman's ballet Undertow

[pizza]

Another that I forgot to mention is Deems Taylor's wonderful orchestral fantasy Through the Looking Glass. Taylor is practically forgotten now, but during the '30s and '40s he was one of the most famous composers and music critics in America.

[jserraglio]

Can anyone think of others that are buried in obscurity and ripe for discovery?

First pick--Randall Thompson, The Nativity According to St. Luke: A Musical Drama in Seven Scenes. Got it last Christmas on a lark, it blew me away. (I had heard his Second Sym on that essential Bernstein Century, American Masters: Harris, Thompson, Diamond CD before that).

Don Gillis, buried in obscurity and ripe for discovery. Albany Records has a Don Gillis series in progress. I borrowed one from the library, listened to his Star-Spangled Symphony and was impressed.

I too am a Roger Sessions admirer, ever since I heard his Eighth Symphony live, the composer sitting right behind me. First time it dawned on this impressionable listener that famous composers were real people--they actually had families that rooted for them just like at Little League games. Not easy music but well worth the effort.

Vincent Persichetti--to wit his Ninth Symphony coupled with William Schuman's Ninth Symphony--Ormandy conducts both on RCA, first-class as per usual from Ormandy and Philadelphia.

David Diamond, his Fourth Symphony, to pick only one of many masterful symphonies, quartets, and concertos by this composer!

Morton Gould, his Third Symphony, BIG TIME!!! Someone here recommended it to me and he was right on the money.

Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and Brahms, they ain't. But as Toscanini was reputed to have said to someone who dismissed a Rossini overture as musically insignificant:

<div align="center">"So, you write a better one!"</div>

[Jack Kelso]

Gordon Binkerd's First Symphony and John Vincent's "Symphonic Poem After Descartes"---excellent orchestral works--- could certainly win appreciation from more exposure.

Jack

[Alberich]

Alberich: I thought it was clear that the question applied to American composers. If not, I'll make it more clear now.

Can anyone think of other works by American composers that are buried in obscurity and ripe for discovery?

Pizza:

I'll respond despite your rudeness.

Nicholas Flagello was born in New York City.

I wonder if that qualifies him to be included
in your thread?

[pizza]

Alberich: I thought it was clear that the question applied to American composers. If not, I'll make it more clear now.

Can anyone think of other works by American composers that are buried in obscurity and ripe for discovery?

Pizza:

I'll respond despite your rudeness.

Nicholas Flagello was born in New York City.

I wonder if that qualifies him to be included
in your thread?

You have a pretty thin skin for a guy named Alberich. I certainly didn't intend to be rude and as far as I'm concerned, you can include anyone you like -- I only post here.

I suppose I should have explained more fully as I did shortly after the post in which you took offense:

"Although Flagello was born and partially educated in America, his work was steeped in European tradition. He was a protege of Vittorio Giannini and I find it difficult to think of him as a traditional American composer, although technically, of course, they both were American."

I think that pretty much explains it

[diegobueno]

One could say that anyone who writes classical music is working in a European tradition. At least half of all American composers from the 20th century, it seems, studied in France with Nadia Boulanger. Does that disqualify them as American composers? I don't think so.

I agree with Virgil Thomson's formula for writing American music: "Step one: be born in America. Step two: write whatever you want".

[pizza]

One could say that anyone who writes classical music is working in a European tradition. At least half of all American composers from the 20th century, it seems, studied in France with Nadia Boulanger. Does that disqualify them as American composers? I don't think so.

I agree with Virgil Thomson's formula for writing American music: "Step one: be born in America. Step two: write whatever you want".

Of course, studying with Boulanger or anyone else doesn't disqualify one as an American composer. But there's considerably more to writing in a distinctly American style than Thomson's quip would suggest.

To illustrate, Harold Shapero's Symphony for Classical Orchestra has been compared to Beethoven's 7th Symphony insofar as its structure is concerned, but it still sounds American.

On the other hand, quite a few works by European composers use jazz themes, but they still sound European.

[Lilith]

Barbers 1st Symphony and almost anything (chamber) written by Arthur Foote

[diegobueno]

Of course, studying with Boulanger or anyone else doesn't disqualify one as an American composer. But there's considerably more to writing in a distinctly American style than Thomson's quip would suggest.

To illustrate, Harold Shapero's Symphony for Classical Orchestra has been compared to Beethoven's 7th Symphony insofar as its structure is concerned, but it still sounds American.

On the other hand, quite a few works by European composers use jazz themes, but they still sound European.

The question of what makes music sound "American" is a fascinating one that could engender much debate. I agree there is a sound that many American composers have that could never come out of Europe. But it doesn't follow that composers who lack that sound are not American composers. For instance there's Samuel Barber, who sounds just as much steeped in Romantic tradition as Flagello, so maybe he should be disqualified too? Or Sessions, whose 12 tone music sounds like CPE Schoenberg. Where are you going to draw the line at who's admissible as an American composer?

[pizza]

Of course, studying with Boulanger or anyone else doesn't disqualify one as an American composer. But there's considerably more to writing in a distinctly American style than Thomson's quip would suggest.

To illustrate, Harold Shapero's Symphony for Classical Orchestra has been compared to Beethoven's 7th Symphony insofar as its structure is concerned, but it still sounds American.

On the other hand, quite a few works by European composers use jazz themes, but they still sound European.

The question of what makes music sound "American" is a fascinating one that could engender much debate. I agree there is a sound that many American composers have that could never come out of Europe. But it doesn't follow that composers who lack that sound are not American composers. For instance there's Samuel Barber, who sounds just as much steeped in Romantic tradition as Flagello, so maybe he should be disqualified too? Or Sessions, whose 12 tone music sounds like CPE Schoenberg. Where are you going to draw the line at who's admissible as an American composer?

You can't draw lines where the question of who is an American composer is concerned. I also don't think you can pose the question as one of "admissibility". After all, there's no exam to pass and no license to be awarded. But I do think that one can get a pretty good idea of where a composer's national or ethnic preferences lie.

But there is an American sound, or maybe sound(s) in the plural is a better way of putting it, since I don't think it applies only to the Copland/Harris variety. Sessions himself recognized its existence. He was quoted as saying: ""Because I am an American I am not duty bound to write American music."

As an analogy and to paraphrase a famous judicial pronouncement concerning the definition of pornography, "I can't define it but I know it when I see it."

[Jack Kelso]

A typically "American" sounding symphony---and a fine masterpiece as well---is Peter Menin's Fifth! The opening alone is brilliant and grabs one by the throat....

Jack

[pizza]

The same is true of Mennin's 7th, the Variation Symphony, and a great recording of it can be heard on CRI, #CR741 with Jean Martinon conducting the CSO.

[Jack Kelso]

The same is true of Mennin's 7th, the Variation Symphony, and a great recording of it can be heard on CRI, #CR741 with Jean Martinon conducting the CSO.

Hey, Pizza---thanks for the tip!

Jack

[PJME]

Indeed! Mennin's symphonies are deeply arresting - gripping in the fast movements and heartbreakingly moving in the slow movements.
It is time that a young pianist tackles the pianoconcerto .

[Holden Fourth]

Louis Moreau Gottschalk - "..un composer Americaine; Mon Dieu!"

[pizza]

Almost anything by Frederic Rzewski; a helluva pianist as well as composer. I was completely taken with his collection of piano works issued recently by Nonesuch:

De Profundis; 4 North American Ballads; Sonata for Piano; The People United Will Never Be Defeated!; The Housewife's Lament; Mayn Yingele; A Life; Fougues; Fantasia; The Road Parts I - IV; Nonesuch New CD 7559-79623-2; 7 CDs containing almost 400 minutes of music, and all superbly played by the composer!

Incidentally, it also has the most natural sounding piano of any recording I've heard recently -- my compliments to the recording engineer!