# What are some recommended or your favorite works by American Composers?



## Conrad2 (Jan 24, 2021)

Hello all, I created this theard so people can share their favorite or recommended pieces composed by American.

I ask that when you're posting to this theard to _include_ the *name of your preferred recording* for piece or at least have a YouTube video, so that we could listen while we're scrolling through the theard. Thank you.


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## Conrad2 (Jan 24, 2021)

Copland: Symphony No. 3 / Quiet City
Leonard Bernstein and New York Philharmonic
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Release Year: 1990


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## Guest002 (Feb 19, 2020)

Assorted works by Antheil, but the Symphony No. 1 is excellent and amongst my (current) favourite American works


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

Two works by Charles Tomlinson Griffes: _The White Peacock_ and _The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan_. Those two are probably his most well known works, but there are other good ones too. I also really like _Clouds_, _Bacchanale_, and _Three Tone Pictures_. All of those are on this great Naxos album:


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

*Morton Feldman*: Palais de Mari; Rothko Chapel; The Viola in Your Life
*Leonard Bernstein*: Mass; Symphony No. 2 "Age of Anxiety"
*Charles Ives*: The Unanswered Question; Three Places in New England; Concord Sonata
*John Luther Adams*: The Wind in High Places; Lines Made by Walking
*Duke Ellington*: Black, Brown and Beige


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Here are some fine ones:

*Cowell *- _Synchrony_ for orchestra - 




*Hovhaness* - _Majnun Symphony_, for choir and orchestra - 




*Crawford-Seeger* - _String Quartet_ 




*Corigliano* - _Piano Concerto_ 




*Copland* - _Clarinet Concerto_


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Reich: Music for 18 Musicians
Glass: Glassworks; Violin concerto no.1; Akhnaten
Adams, John Luther: Become Ocean
Adams, John: Harmonielehre
Wolfe: Steel Hammer
Gordon: Timber
Vierk: Words Fail Me
Shaw: Partita for 8 voices
Lang: The Difficulty of Crossing a Field
Bermel: Voices
Allemeier: Deep Water


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

Meyer Kupferman's *Jazz Symphony* & *Challenger*


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## Joe B (Aug 10, 2017)

Hanson - Symphonies 1 & 2








Hanson - Symphonies 3 & 5








Piston - Symphonies 2 & 6








Barber - Symphony 1 & Adagio








Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Two American classics together on a single disc:









I'm always convinced the Harris Third is "the great American symphony", until I again hear the Schumann Third.

And, until I again hear, of course, the Copland Third.

But the above pictured disc is a classic that belongs in the library of every fan of "American" music.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

AbsolutelyBaching said:


> View attachment 150741
> 
> 
> Assorted works by Antheil, but the Symphony No. 1 is excellent and amongst my (current) favourite American works


Excellent - Antheil is a very good - I know quite a few of his works - I'll check out Sym #1....Sym #4 is excellent - a WWII blockbuster...Capital of the World is really fine, as well...excellent composer, rather under-rated, imo....


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Joe B said:


> View attachment 150743
> 
> Hanson - Symphonies 1 & 2
> 
> ...


Hanson Syms 1 and 3 are very strong...very fine symphonies. #2 is best known, but I think # and 1 are better works....
I really enjoy Merry mount - both the opera, and the orchestral suite.


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

Heck148 said:


> Hanson Syms 1 and 3 are very strong...very fine symphonies. #2 is best known, but I think # and 1 are better works....
> I really enjoy Merry mount - both the opera, and the orchestral suite.


I'm not familiar with the opera, but I've heard the suite before and found it enjoyable.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

*Louis Moreau Gottschalk*: A Night in the Tropics (Symphony no. 1) and Grand Tarantella. The Hot Springs Festival recording on Naxos has it all.

*Amy Beach*: Symphony in E. Again, Naxos nails it with the Nashville Symphony.

*George Chadwick*: Symphonic Sketches. Neeme Jarvi with Detroit on Chandos.

*John F. Converse*: The Mystic Trumpeter. Falletta with Buffalo on Naxos. (The whole disk is terrific.)

*Leo Sowerby*: Medieval Poem. Fairfield Orchestra on Naxos. Sadly unknown composer.

*Douglas Moore*: opera The Ballad of Baby Doe. Sills & New York City Opera on DG.

*Edward MacDowell*: Piano Concerto no. 2. Naxos with National Symphony of Ireland.

*George Templeton Strong*: Symphony no. 2. Adriano on Naxos.

not to mention the great band marches by Henry Fillmore, Ricahrd F. Goldman, Karl King.

and on and on....


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

SONNET CLV said:


> I'm always convinced the Harris Third is "the great American symphony", until I again hear the Schumann Third.


Schuman Sym #3 is a great piece!! for me - it is the "Great American Symphony" - Copland #3, Hanson #3, Harris #3, Antheil #4, Mennin #7 all make a plausible run for the title, but Schuman 3 takes the cake, for me...

Two great Schuman 3s:

*Bernstein/NYPO I [10/60]* - NYPO at its fence-swinging best, that at the edge excitement of full bore playing...Better than his 2nd effort on DG [which is good, just not as good] -

*Slatkin/CSO [2/86 - CSO Archival Set - CSO in 20th Century] *- has that same all-out, edge of the seat excitement, thrilling playing of this powerhouse symphony...

would not want to be without either Bernstein I or Slatkin....great stuff.
this piece is definitely on the same scale as the big Shostakovich symphonies...audition licks abound!!

All Schuman's symphonies are good, and most interesting - another work of his that is a favorite - 
"New England Triptych" - favorite rendition - *Kostelanetz/NYPO - 3/58 [CBS/Sony]* - wonderful - 
the middle mvt "When Jesus Wept" - the lovely duet of bassoon and oboe [W. Polisi, H. Gomberg] is so beautiful, really superb [what a sound!!]
Kostelanetz was quite a fine conductor, for many years he always conducted a series with NYPO...the Schuman is from the same concert that included Copland "Lincoln Portrait" with Carl Sandberg narrating...this is a thrilling rendition, with the NYPO wild men in full cry, playing it to the hilt...Sandberg's rather gravelly, raspy voice seems somehow, so appropriate and fitting.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

John Corigliano scores with me -

Symphonies 1 [Rage] and 3 [Circus Maximus] are very powerful
Gazebo Dances
3 Hallucinations from "Altered States"
The Red Violin
Pied Piper Fantasy


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Benjamin Lees right now.

Well, it looks like I'm going to get permanently banned after the closure of "Was Wagner Religious." My views expressed in that thread are sincere, and I'm sorry members didn't get to see the last 4 or 5 deleted posts. I kept my composure and didn't insult my opponent. They are "discussing" those last deleted threads.
I want everyone here to know that my love for "classical" music of all kinds is sincere and will not disappear. As much as I have apparently irritated people, I hold no real animosity towards anyone here, even those mean-spirited ones. Goodbye Mandryka, I will miss you the most; starthrower, Hammered, hell, even WD!


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

adriesba said:


> I'm not familiar with the opera, but I've heard the suite before and found it enjoyable.


The Love Duet is really riveting - wipes me out every time....both the operatic, and orchestral versions....Hanson could definitely spin a tune....
I played for Hanson when I was at Eastman [Sym #2] - memorable experience....he was very strong, knew what he wanted.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

mbhaub said:


> *Amy Beach*: Symphony in E. Again, Naxos nails it with the Nashville Symphony.


The Beach "Gaelic" Symphony is hard to bring off - it is thickly orchestrated, murky, heavy - rather Brahmsian, but without Brahms' skill at orchestration and his ability to project the inner parts he wanted to be heard. The Beach can be very thick and cluttered..esp in the woodwind parts.
The only time I played it, the conductor simply couldn't deal with it - his solution was for everyone to play at some sort of wimpy piano/mezzo-piano dynamic, which meant that nothing projected, and the result was this sort of indistinguishable "sonic oatmeal"....a thick, gloopy mess...The Schermerhorn/Nashville is considerably better, of course, but the basic orchestration is problematic.



> not to mention the great band marches by Henry Fillmore, Ricahrd F. Goldman, Karl King.


Yes, American marches!! some of the best...JP Sousa, Fillmore, King...._Americana_ all the way....


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## mparta (Sep 29, 2020)

Heck148 said:


> Schuman Sym #3 is a great piece!! for me - it is the "Great American Symphony" - Copland #3, Hanson #3, Harris #3, Antheil #4, Mennin #7 all make a plausible run for the title, but Schuman 3 takes the cake, for me...
> 
> Two great Schuman 3s:
> 
> ...


That NYPO/Kostelanetz sounds wonderful. Gomberg and the Schuman, hard to beat that piece. I wonder what would happen if the Vienna Philharmonic picked it up? Awful oboe, for one thing . I will look for that recording.

For some reason I've never gotten to Antheil although I bet if I looked on the shelves....

Much affection for Walter Piston, especially the 6th symphony and The Incredible Flutist. If the tango from the Flutist doesn't end up as an earworm in your head, you have no heart.

So much Copland is so good. I was fortunate to hear Bernstein conduct an all Copland program, NYPO with Copland in the audience. Sloppy, sloppy playing but still... Quiet City, the 3rd symphony, Appalachian Spring the greatest of all.

The living American Composer that I've felt important enough to pursue is John Adams. I am embarrassed to not know the operas. But I've heard him conduct the sort-of oratorios, El Nino and the Gospel according to the other Mary, former in Brooklyn, latter here in Washington, and a couple of years ago City Noir. Love the older big pieces, Harmonielehre and Harmonium, Naive and Sentimental Music. The Violin Concerto and Scheherezade 2. This guy is a keeper. Short Ride in a Fast Machine, heard it in Houston, thrilling.

I have Become Ocean by John Luther Adams. Hmmmm.... not convinced, maybe needs a live performance.

Michael Torke. I have quite a few of his discs, sort of a numbered series, and play them enough that I apparently like them quite a bit.

Barber of course, the slow movement of the piano concerto, but the whole piano concerto. I knew John Browning:lol: Knoxville, for those who've been celebrating Leontyne Price's birthday, hear her version. Tell me you will ever be rid of how she sings "vanilla, strawberry, paste board and starched milk" and then "but will not ever tell me who I am." Great symphony, great violin concerto.

Ives. every blessed note.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

All three compositions here are great (the CD includes Ruggles *Sun-Treader*. I especially like the spiky violin concerto.









There is little question Hanson "Romantic" is among the greatest American symphonies -- especially in the composer's own super audio reading.









Some others to consider:

Roy Harris *Symphony No. 3 in One Movement*

Hanson *Serenade for Flute, Harp and Strings*

Charles Tomlinson Griffes *Poem for Flute and Orchestra*

Samuel Barber* Capricorn Concerto* and/or *Violin Concerto* (one of the greats)

John Adams *Short Ride On a Fast Machine*.


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

My own are the best, of course!

You'll just have to wait :devil:


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## Conrad2 (Jan 24, 2021)

BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist said:


> My own are the best, of course!
> 
> You'll just have to wait :devil:


Don't let the suspense kill us!


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

It's a simple pleasure, but one of my favourite (favorite?) pieces by an American composer is Barber's Excursions op.20.

Nicely played here by the great Andre Previn


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Barber - Knoxville: Summer of 1915





Reich - Different Trains


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## Haydn70 (Jan 8, 2017)

Eric Whitacre's _Water Night_. I prefer the string orchestra version:






but the choral version is great too:


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## WhateverDude (Jun 21, 2019)

That a country the size of the USA has produced so little of importance in classical music is surprising.... And disappointing.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Copland clicks with me on so many works, not just the well-known ballet scores...I love Appalachian Spring, esp the original 15 instrument version but full orchestra is wonderful, also....
interesting point - this work has been identified as ultimate Copland " Americana", yet the title was not applied until well after its composition...originally Copland called it something like "Ballet for Martha"(Graham)....somehow the music coincided perfectly with the post-composition title.
I love "El Salon Mexico", and "Music for the Theater"....Bernstein/NYPO are tough to match in these orchestral gems...
"Dance Symphony" is another winner...try Morton Gould//CSO for this one...the complete Gould/CSO set us the way to go, superb remasterings, some great stuff - Nielsen Sym #2, some great Ives, R-K "Antar", Gould "Spirituals"..
Just a note, all of these RCA/CSO sets - Martinon, Gould, Ozawa are excellently remastered, ime, far better than any previous releases of this material...real sonic knockouts!!


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

WhateverDude said:


> That a country the size of the USA has produced so little of importance in classical music is surprising.... And disappointing.


Size of a country has nothing to do with it: it's the age and heritage. When the United States was formally a country, Mozart and Haydn were already writing their masterworks. At the first centennial, Brahms had written a great deal and his first symphony was just coming out. When our Wild West was being tamed, the likes of Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Mahler, Verdi were working in Europe. The US is a relatively young country as far as it goes. It didn't help that many of our wannabe composers went to Europe to study or that practically every orchestra would only hire conductors from the Old World (they still do, for that matter). When it comes to the 20th c, American composers held their own against the Europeans. They wrote a lot of fine works but you wouldn't know it thanks to the neglect by orchestras. There were some brave conductors who tried to remedy the problem: Koussevitsky, Bernstein, Hanson, F. Slatkin, Karl Krueger, Thor Johnson. If you read a book on 20th c music the Americans are well represented and contributed a great deal to "classical" music. Besides, during much of the last 100 years musical tastes and styles have changed rapidly and in many ways American composers were the tops: Broadway musicals, film scoring, jazz, pop, country/western, rock...


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## WhateverDude (Jun 21, 2019)

Maybe a society so engrossed in the 'bottom line profit motive' can never really become a world leader in art.


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

I REALLY love American classical music. I've got too many favorites to list, but here are some and I finally figured out how to paste images (I think):

Samuel Barber is my favorite American composer even if there isn't much "American" about his music which is tonal, and basically rooted in European Romanticism. Each of the following features Barber as a great composer for the human voice, demonstrating that there is a place for America and the English language in the realm of art songs:

















I was a fan of the music of Alan Hovhaness from the start. When I started collecting classical records in the 1980s as a teenager, a Hovhaness recording was hard to come by. You might be lucky to find one at a used record store. Now I have lots, but there are two early favorites. The one that also features a wonderful symphony by fellow Pacific-Northwesterner, Lou Harrison, was (I think) the first Hovhaness recording I ever purchased on CD:

















There's lots of great stuff I acquired through the NAXOS American Composers series. My Favorite is Rochberg's _Violin Concerto_ which has the athleticism of Prokofiev's Violin Concerto, the passion and pathos of Berg's Violin Concerto (Rochberg composed it to memorialize his son, and Berg composed his to commemorate his daughter); as well as all the length and breadth of a Mahler symphony:









Will continue...


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

...more from NAXOS:


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

WhateverDude said:


> That a country the size of the USA has produced so little of importance in classical music is surprising.... And disappointing.


I don't understand... 
Copland, Bernstein, Gershwin, Grofé, Hovhaness, John Williams, John Adams, Griffes, Reich, Glass, and a whole bunch more - all notable American composers.


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## Conrad2 (Jan 24, 2021)

Coach G said:


> There's lots of great stuff I acquired through the NAXOS American Composers series. My Favorite is Rochberg's _Violin Concerto_ which has the athleticism of Prokofiev's Violin Concerto, the passion and pathos of Berg's Violin Concerto (Rochberg composed it to memorialize his son, and Berg composed his to commemorate his daughter); as well as all the length and breadth of a Mahler symphony


Naxos's American Classics series is a goldmine for me, but the enormous choice of catalogue overwhelms me. Your posts was very helpful for me. I will try the Rochberg's Violin Concerto and hopefully, I enjoyed it as much as you.


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

Randall Thompson's _Frostiana_ is American to the core; a beautiful framing of the poetry of Robert Frost:









That's all for now. I could go on and on.


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## WhateverDude (Jun 21, 2019)

adriesba said:


> I don't understand...
> Copland, Bernstein, Gershwin, Grofé, Hovhaness, John Williams, John Adams, Griffes, Reich, Glass, and a whole bunch more - all notable American composers.


Indeed... All notable American composers .. but not Notable Composers by any stretch of the imagination.


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

WhateverDude said:


> Indeed... All notable American composers .. but not Notable Composers by any stretch of the imagination.


I still don't understand what you mean. All of those composers wrote very enjoyable music that is performed all the time.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

WhateverDude said:


> Indeed... All notable American composers .. but not Notable Composers by any stretch of the imagination.


Bull...Copland, Gershwin, Schuman, Hanson, Mennin, Diamond, Bernstein. Gould, etc can hold their own in any crowd...


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## Conrad2 (Jan 24, 2021)

As a general reminder, I created this thread so people can share and discuss their favorite works by American composers. If anyone want to discuss about something else, please do so in a different thread. Thank you.


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## WhateverDude (Jun 21, 2019)

Heck148 said:


> Bull...Copland, Gershwin, Schuman, Hanson, Mennin, Diamond, Bernstein. Gould, etc can hold their own in any crowd...


Compared to Shostakovich/Prokofiev/Stravinsky/Rachmanlnov.... Not even close .... They would all a laugh at you in Russian


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## WhateverDude (Jun 21, 2019)

Conrad2 said:


> As a general reminder, I created this thread so people can share and discuss their favorite works by American composers. If anyone want to discuss the merits of American composers, please do so in a different thread. Thank you.


Duly noted.... OK, I"ll go with 'the death march of the republic' from Star Wars and The Lone Ranger theme


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

WhateverDude said:


> Compared to Shostakovich/Prokofiev/Stravinsky/Rachmanlnov.... Not even close .... They would all a laugh at you in Russian


Baloney.. .I'm laughing at you in English...at their best the Americans are equivalent to the great 20th century Russians - Stravinsky, Shostakovich and Prokofiev...all of them, American and Russian, exceed Rachmaninoff....
That you under-rate the Americans simply indicates an ignorance of the repertoire on your part.


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## WhateverDude (Jun 21, 2019)

Heck148 said:


> Baloney.. .I'm laughing at you in English...at their best the Americans are equivalent to the great 20th century Russians - Stravinsky, Shostakovich and Prokofiev...all of them, American and Russian, exceed Rachmaninoff....
> That you under-rate the Americsns simply indicates an ignorance of the repertoire on your part.


Absolute rubbish ... The Soviets are god's... The yanks are mere mortals


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

WhateverDude said:


> Absolute rubbish ... The Soviets are god's... The yanks are mere mortals


The Russian trio is great, no doubt...but so are the best Americans...go do some listening before you make such ill-informed proclamations.
Oh, btw, the "Lone Ranger" theme is by Rossini...lol!!


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

WhateverDude said:


> Compared to Shostakovich/Prokofiev/Stravinsky/Rachmanlnov.... Not even close .... They would all a laugh at you in Russian


This will upset you: Rachmaninoff and Stravinsky were AMERICANS! They were both living in Beverly Hills in the 1940s during the war and became US citizens. So add them to the US column.


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## WhateverDude (Jun 21, 2019)

mbhaub said:


> This will upset you: Rachmaninoff and Stravinsky were AMERICANS! They were both living in Beverly Hills in the 1940s during the war and became US citizens. So add them to the US column.


When you have to claim other nations citizens as American you know you are really scraping the barrel.... How about Prokofiev, he holidayed in the US once.


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## Joe B (Aug 10, 2017)

WhateverDude said:


> When you have to claim other nations citizens as American you know you are really scraping the barrel.... How about Prokofiev, he holidayed in the US once.


I'm curious. You joined the forum in June of 2019 making only one post. Now, in the last 3 days, you've posted 28 more times, with 25 of them being confrontational and negative. What's the matter? Bored? Nothing better to do? Transferring your hostility to this forum won't fix what's ailing you.


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

Classical music is not a contest. If it were then I suppose the Germans and Austrians would win gold medals in all categories. The point is that the artists/musicians/poets every country has good and interesting things to offer the world, or at least to their own countrymen and countrywomen. I don't suppose that Winslow Homer, Norman Rockwell, and Grandma Moses are as great as Rembrandt, Van Gogh, or Picasso; that Longfellow, Whitman and Robert Frost are greater than Shakespeare; or that Ives and Copland can be be compared to Beethoven and Mozart; but these gifts are there for the taking if you so desire them. If you're not interested or don't see the point in it then that's OK too; so why make a big deal out of it?


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## WhateverDude (Jun 21, 2019)

Joe B said:


> I'm curious. You joined the forum in June of 2019 making only one post. Now, in the last 3 days, you've posted 28 more times, with 25 of them being confrontational and negative. What's the matter? Bored? Nothing better to do? Transferring your hostility to this forum won't fix what's ailing you.


So you agree that Rachmaninov and Stravinsky are American's....?


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## Conrad2 (Jan 24, 2021)

Recordining: Songs Of The Civil War
Title: Ashokan Farewell
Artist: Jay Ungar
Label: Sony Music
Release Year: 1991






I'm not sure if this is exactly classical music as it was created by an folk musician, but according to Classic FM it's a waltz. This piece was used in the documentary "The Civil War" by Ken Burns as the title song. If you haven't seen the documentary, I recommended it as it's one of the few ones that can rock you to the core.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Coach G said:


> I don't suppose that Winslow Homer, Norman Rockwell, and Grandma Moses are as great as Rembrandt, Van Gogh, or Picasso;


But O'Keefe, Sargent, Hopper, Calder, etc are certainly top level talents



> Ives and Copland can be be compared to Beethoven and Mozart;


They are different....I agree that it's not a contest...certainly the creators/composers don't view it as such - as in_<<I'm going to compose music that is better than Mozart's_>>
ridiculous...



> but these gifts are there for the taking if you so desire them. If you're not interested or don't see the point in it then that's OK too; so why make a big deal out of it?


Exactly, well said.


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## eljr (Aug 8, 2015)

Heck148 said:


> Baloney.. .I'm laughing at you in English...at their best the Americans are equivalent to the great 20th century Russians - Stravinsky, Shostakovich and Prokofiev...all of them, American and Russian, exceed Rachmaninoff....
> *That you under-rate the Americans simply indicates an ignorance of the repertoire on your part.*


It has nothing to do with that. He is simply extremely biased against America.

He even attacked the American movie industry which is the envy of the world.

This guy would post that same about American foods, Americans, trucks, American space craft, American anything. It's obvious.


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## eljr (Aug 8, 2015)

Joe B said:


> I'm curious. You joined the forum in June of 2019 making only one post. Now, in the last 3 days, you've posted 28 more times, with 25 of them being confrontational and negative. What's the matter? Bored? Nothing better to do? Transferring your hostility to this forum won't fix what's ailing you.


Careful Joe, calling a spade a spade just gets one embroiled in controversy. LOL

Everyone here can see what the "real story" is with this poster. No need to get upset, leave that to me! LOLOL:devil:


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

Just a few favorites....

Copland: Appalachian Spring
Sousa: Washington Post March
Carmichael: Stardust
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
Bernstein: Candide Overture


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

William Schuman symphonies 4,6,7,10
Barber - Overture To The School For Scandal, Knoxville Summer 1915, piano concerto, Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance, Adagio For Strings
Carter - Concerto For Orchestra, Variations For Orchestra
Bernstein symphonies 1-3, On The Waterfront, Serenade
Ives - Holidays Symphony, Symphony No.1
George Crumb - Echoes Of Time and the River, Voice Of The Whale


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

I like Carter's String Quartet 1


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

My tastes tend toward the atonal, avantgarde, contemporary, so, take my recommendations with that in mind.

Although, I will start with Samuel Barber, who is decidedly not the above.

Piano Concerto Op 38
Medea's Dance of Vengeance Op. 23a 
Concerto for Cello

Elliott Carter

Concerto for Orchestra
Piano Concerto
Three Occasions for Orchestra 
Three Illusions for Orchestra 
His first 3 string quartets

Joan Tower

Concerto for Orchestra
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
Silver Ladders

Charles Wuorinen

4th Piano Concerto
Iridule for Oboe and Six Players
Eighth Symphony
Micorsymphony
Piano Concerto no. 1

Joseph Schwantner

Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra
...and the mountains rising nowhere
Aftertones of Infinity
Diaphonia Intervallum



WhateverDude said:


> That a country the size of the USA has produced so little of importance in classical music is surprising.... And disappointing.


This is ridiculous on the face of it.

I'm sure you'd get massive disagreement from composers from all over the world, of the last 80 years or so, about your personal opinion.

Funny how so many here on TC seem to believe their personal opinion is an objective fact.


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## Ekim the Insubordinate (May 24, 2015)

Samuel Barber - I recommend the cycle Marin Alsop has recorded on Naxos in their American Classics series - especially the recording of Knoxville: Summer of 1915. Throw in the Solo Piano Music on Naxos recorded by Daniel Pollack.

I like the RCA Living Stereo recording of Copland's Appalachian Spring, conducted by the composer with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. But the recording on Columbia with him conducting the Columbia Symphony Orchestra is also good. Beyond that, Slatkin's recordings of Copland on Naxos are also good (Naxos' American Classics series is generally very good).

Then there is Bernstein's recording of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris on Columbia.

I don't listen to Ives a lot, but do have James Sinclair's recordings of his orchestral works on Naxos. I like them, but don't know whether they are the best available.


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## mparta (Sep 29, 2020)

Just a toss for someone whose music I have let go by but found very attractive quite a few years ago.

Joseph Schwantner.








https://i.postimg.cc/N0BsdBSb/Schwantner-Slatkin.jpg


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

Ekim the Insubordinate said:


> Samuel Barber - I recommend the cycle Marin Alsop has recorded on Naxos in their American Classics series - especially the recording of Knoxville: Summer of 1915. Throw in the Solo Piano Music on Naxos recorded by Daniel Pollack.
> 
> I like the RCA Living Stereo recording of Copland's Appalachian Spring, conducted by the composer with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. But the recording on Columbia with him conducting the Columbia Symphony Orchestra is also good. Beyond that, Slatkin's recordings of Copland on Naxos are also good (Naxos' American Classics series is generally very good).
> 
> ...


The Barber set by Marin Alsop on NAXOS is comprehensive and well done. The Columbia recordings of the grand trifecta: _Violin Concerto_/_Piano Concerto_/_Cello Concerto_ by Stern/Bernstein, Browning/Szell and Ma/Zinman respectively is also great; as well as the hard-to-find premier recordings where Samuel Barber, who was an accomplished singer in his own right lends his sad, pleading baritone to _Dover Beach_; the only time you'll probably hear a great composer sing on record! EMI has it's own line of Barber's Greatest Hits with the likes of Leonard Slatkin, Michael Tilson Thomas, Barbara Hendricks, the Emerson String Quartet and other notables in their bullpen.

For me, no one does Aaron Copland better than Leonard Bernstein, along with Aaron Copland himself.

My favorite Ives is the _Symphony #4_ by Leopold Stokowski, probably the greatest symphony ever composed by an American.


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

Honorary American Works:

Dvorak's _Symphony #9 "New World" Symphony_ it commemorates the composers three year stay in the United States.

Delius' _Florida Suite_, a musical love letter to the sunshine state from when the English composer briefly resided as a young man. Delius loved Florida so much he brought his German bride back to Florida for a holiday some years later.

Hindemith's _When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd_ which is based on Walt Whitman's epic poem and dedicated to the memory of President Franklin D Roosevelt. It's as close as the German academic composer ever got to "Americana". Less than twenty years later the American born and bred composer, Roger Sessions composed his own serial musical setting to Whitman's _When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd_ to honor the memory of President John F Kennedy.


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

The Progression of American Piano Music:

*Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1969)* Characterized by wide intervals, and influenced by Latin and Caribbean folk music; Gottschalk tried some interesting things such as melding two popular melodies at the same time.

*Edward MacDowell (1860-1908)* Was the foremost member of the Boston school, or "Boston Classicists", an important movement to establish an American tradition of classical music that ended up being mostly derivative of European Romanticism, and MacDowell's while MacDowell's piano music is pleasant it is mostly an imitation of composers such as Chopin, Schumann, Mendelssohn, and Grieg. Some of his miniatures do make recitals now and then, such as _Water Lily_ and _Wild Rose_.

*Scott Joplin (1868-1917)* While MacDowell was imitating Europe, Scott Joplin was creating a powerful, original, and distinctly American sound that was organic to the African-American experience.

*Charles Ives (1874-1954)* New England's Charles Ives takes American piano music in another wholly original direction, delving into atonality, tone clusters, polyrhythms, musical collage long before the likes of Schoenberg, Boulez, Berio, Carter came on the scene, making Ives foremost among the experimental group of American composers.

*Henry Cowell (1897-1965)* Cowell's piano miniatures pick up where Ives left off exploring the outer limits of the piano's world of sound. Cowell used rulers to poke and pluck the strings inside the piano providing the link between Ives and the prepared piano music of John Cage.

*John Cage (1912-1992)* Cage takes the tradition of Ives and Cowell even further out to _Deep Space Nine_, with the Zen-like prepared piano sonatas.

*Samuel Barber (1910-1981)* Barber's piano music can be compared to Edward MacDowell in that rather than follow along the experimental path of Ives/Cowell/Cage; Barber is content to compose in a style that is tonal, lyrical and essentially founded in European Romanticism. But Barber's piano music can also be quite original and athletic.

*Frederic Rzewski (born 1938)* Rzewski's incredible _People United Will Not Be Defeated_ is a remarkable tour-de-force that explores the entire spectrum of piano styles and approaches from the Baroque era on down.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Also a shout out for Joseph Wagner (1900-1974) who wrote a great deal of music in various genres. Published two excellent books on scoring: one for orchestra and one for band. Excellent training in the US and in Europe. Studied conducting with Monteux and Weingartner. But virtually all of his music has fallen away. It's too bad, because it's all well written and while modern sounding, retains tonality and melody. The short first symphony would be a fine work for amateur and community orchestras to tackle.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Coach G said:


> The Progression of American Piano Music:
> 
> *Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1969)* Characterized by wide intervals, and influenced by Latin and Caribbean folk music; Gottschalk tried some interesting things such as melding two popular melodies at the same time.
> 
> ...


What do you think of Alvin Curran and Roger Reynolds?


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Some favourite American composers without thinking about it too much. 

Harry Partch
Pauline Oliveros
La Monte Young
Tod Dockstader
Morton Feldman
David Tudor
Alvin Lucier


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## Conrad2 (Jan 24, 2021)

Coach G said:


> The Progression of American Piano Music:
> 
> *Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1969)* Characterized by wide intervals, and influenced by Latin and Caribbean folk music; Gottschalk tried some interesting things such as melding two popular melodies at the same time.
> 
> ...


What piano pieces by these composers do you enjoyed or recommended?


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

Conrad2 said:


> What piano pieces by these composers do you enjoyed or recommended?


Gottschalk: Souvenir de Puerto Rico 
MacDowell: Woodland Sketches
Joplin: Maple Leaf Rag; Pineapple Rag
Ives: Concord Sonata
Cowell: The Banshee
Cage: Sonatas for Prepared Piano
Barber: Piano Sonata
Rzewski: The People United Will Never Be Defeated


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## Dirge (Apr 10, 2012)

Here are a dozen of my favorite American works (and recordings) that, with a few exceptions, lie slightly off the beaten path …

Charles IVES: *"General William Booth Enters into Heaven"* (1914)
:: Gramm & Cumming [ST/AND '61] Vox





Charles T. GRIFFES: *Piano Sonata* (1918/rev. 19)
:: Masselos [M-G-M '57] Naxos Classical Archives (download only)





Aaron COPLAND: *Piano Variations* (1930)
:: Blackwood [Cedille '96]





Carl RUGGLES: *Sun-treader* (1926-31)
:: Thomas/BSO [DG '70]




 (Thomas/Buffalo PO '80)

Ruth CRAWFORD SEEGER: *Andante for Strings* (1938) from String Quartet 1931
:: Dohnányi/Cleveland Orchestra [Decca '94]





William SCHUMAN: *Symphony No. 6* (1948)
:: Ormandy/Philadelphia Orchestra [Columbia '53] Albany





Roger SESSIONS: *String Quartet No. 2* (1951)
:: Kohon Quartet [Vox, rel. '74]





Leonard BERNSTEIN: *Symphonic Suite from On the Waterfront* (1954/55)
:: Bernstein/NYPO [Columbia '60]





Elliott CARTER: *A Symphony of Three Orchestras* (1976)
:: Boulez/NYPO [Columbia '77]





Charles WUORINEN: *Horn Trio* (1981)
:: Purvis, Hudson & Feinberg [Koch '91] Naxos





John ADAMS: *Chamber Symphony* (1992)
:: Ensemble Modern [RCA '96]





Charles WUORINEN: *Fourth String Quartet* (1999/2000)
:: Brentano Quartet [Tzadik, live '01]


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

A couple of excellent Carter discs.

This is my number one American symphonies set.


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

Mandryka said:


> Some favourite American composers without thinking about it too much.
> 
> Harry Partch
> Pauline Oliveros
> ...


I've only discovered Partch recently, but the more I listen to him the more I become convinced that he was really onto something.

I've actually started reading Helmholtz's _On the Sensations of Tone_ (a book which greatly inspired Partch) and plan on reading Partch's _Genesis of a Music_ afterwards.

Has anyone read one or both of these books?


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

It is really too bad that Creston and Diamond in particular receive no love here. So I'll mention:

Creston: Symphony no. II, Toccata, & Choreographic Suite
Diamond: Symphonies I, III, IV | String Quartet II | The Enormous Room
Plus:

Bernstein: Symphonies I-III | Chichester Psalms | West Side Story
Hanson: Symphonies I, IV | Merry Mount (both Suite and complete Opera)
Daniel Gregory Mason: Chanticleer Festival Overture
Still: Symphonies I & II
Price, Florence: Piano Concerto
Ives: Concord Sonata | Symphonies II & III
Rorem: Piano Concerto II, Symphonies I-III
Barber: Vanessa, Violin Concerto, Music for a Scene from Shelley, Toccata Festiva, Symphony no. I
Harris: Symphony no. III and piano works
Schuman: Symphony no. III
Beach: Gaelic Symphony
Hovhannes: Symphony No. 50 "Mount Saint Helens"
Copland: Symphony no. III and Billy the Kid
Antheil: Piano Concerto I | Symphony no. III | Ballet Méchanique
Blackwood: Symphony no. V | Sonata in F-sharp minor
Hailstork: Epitaph for a Man who Dreamed
Gottschalk: A Night in the Tropics, The Banjo
Joplin: Treemonisha, Rags (esp. Maple Leaf, Original, & Swipeasy Cakewalk)
Thompson, Randall: Symphony no. I


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Diamond is an excellent composer, so is Antheil..


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## Conrad2 (Jan 24, 2021)

Steve Reich: Different Trains
George Crumb: Black Angels

American Music
Quatuor Diotima String Quartet
Label: Naïve 
Release Year: 2011








Just discovered these two pieces and I really enjoyed them. The Black Angels was unsettling, but it worked for me.


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## Andrew Kenneth (Feb 17, 2018)

John Zorn 
"Forbidden Fruit" - Variations for voice, string quartet and turntables (1987)


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## Conrad2 (Jan 24, 2021)

BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist said:


> My own are the best, of course!
> 
> You'll just have to wait :devil:













BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist said:


> I truly believe it to be one of the greatest compositions of this century. Perhaps I will share it with TC. But first, I'm taking any questions from the peanut gallery.


The maestro has delivered! Just have to wait for the maestro to grace us all with gift.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
But really, I do want to hear it. If it's a masterpiece as claimed, then it would be a immeasurable delight. If not, then however unlikely, perhaps another American talkclassical member (sorry to Non-Americans) could create a work so great to warrant a recommendation from us as to say that his/her work is their favorite work by an American composer.


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

Conrad2 said:


> View attachment 152824
> 
> 
> The maestro has delivered! Just have to wait for the maestro to grace us all with gift.
> ...


Good things come to he who accepts friend requests.


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

I am going to recommend a neo-classical symphony by 
*Harold Shapero - Symphony for Classical Orchestra (1947)*






my favorite part is the second movement, starting at 18:53 or so (at least I hope it is the second movement, there are no time stamps on the youtube video)


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

Randall Thompson Symphony 2 (1931)


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

One of my greatest discoveries over the past few years has been how wonderful American music is. I probably shouldn’t say this, but I think that in the past I was harbouring racist anti American prejudices. Somewhere deep down I’d assumed that American art was really shallow trash, without the depth of Old World culture. Nothing could have been further from the truth. 

As far as favourite composers are concerned, I don’t want to go down that route. What I will mention is this: I think Roger Reynolds wrote some interesting music.


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## mparta (Sep 29, 2020)

Someone beat me to the Shapero symphony. That's great stuff.

Walter Piston, Incredible Flutist, 6th symphony.

Copland, Quiet City

Barber piano concerto and 1st symphony

William Schuman, New England Triptych, 3rd symphony

Ives 4th symphony, unanswered question

All of John Adams but especially the Wound Dresser, Harmonielehre, City Noir, Harmonium, Scheherezade 2. Haven't heard the latest piano thing, "why must the devil..." 

Edgar Meyers violin concerto and string quartet

Michael Torke, color Music

Bernstein, age of anxiety

Harris 3rd symphony

much more by Diamond, Persichetti, more Schumann and Piston symphonies, more Torke

No Glass. Please. Spare me.


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

Mandryka said:


> One of my greatest discoveries over the past few years has been how wonderful American music. I probably shouldn't say this, but I think that in the past I was harbouring racist anti American prejudices. Somewhere deep down I'd assumed that American art was really shallow trash, without the depth of Old World culture. Nothing could have been further from the truth.


Same, Mandryka. I'm ashamed to admit it really. And I'm an American!


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist said:


> Same, Mandryka. I'm ashamed to admit it really. And I'm an American!


I once had a discussion about this with an American friend who is quite educated (he speaks several foreign languages, which is unusual for an American ) and he blamed Hollywood and to quote him "hsitty cultural exports" for the fact that American culture is perceived as shallow. On the one hand Hollywood is helping to spread American culture across the planet and thus increase its soft power, on the other hand most of what the Hollywood produces in shallow and stupid. And for most people on the planet, Hollywood is the main source of information about America, American culture and way of life etc. So it is kind of a double-edged sword.


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## Saxman (Jun 11, 2019)

Romantic: Gottschalk. The complete piano recordings on Hyperion are outstanding and my 'go to' for these works. Well worth the exploration. 

Post-Romantic: Ives. Ives was way ahead of his time. The symphonies and the Unanswered Question are great places to start, but really a wealth of stuff here.


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