Musicologist, repertoire consultant, record producer, American music
advocate, and list member Walter Simmons was on the Princeton radio
station yesterday.  He's taught me a lot over the years, and knowing
him only through his prose, I enjoyed hearing his voice, as well as
the pieces he played, many of them new to me.

For me, the outstanding new piece I heard (had to leave my computer for
a meeting) was a Giannini concerted work for double-bass and orchestra.
It changed my perception of Giannini, a composer I felt a good craftsman,
but not emotionally compelling.  This was a late work, dark and passionate,
and never in a millenium would I have guessed the composer.  The recording
is not available, and consequently Walter was unable to give performance
information.  In fact, many of the works played yesterday have no
commercial recording.  The question that now comes up is how distorted
is our view of music in general, let alone American music, since a lot
of really good music and many wonderful composers aren't recorded at
all?  Is it a matter of simply making the picture we already have clearer,
or are we looking at substantially different picture?

Steve Schwartz