Stephen Bacher wonders

>It would be instructive to know what composers Saminsky enthused about.

A quick Google search indicates that Saminsky's opinion of Copland may
have been influenced by two factors:

(1) Saminsky was an expert on Hebraic music and folk research.  Perhaps
he thought the Russian influence he detected was too unauthentic for
Appalachia.

(2) Saminsky recommended that one of his students, Miriam Gideon, study
with either Roger Sessions or Arnold Schoenberg.  This indicates he may
have been an advocate at one time of High Modernism, and may have thought
populist works were becoming retrograde.

But this is a shot in the dark. I'm sure there are people out there who knew
him personally. To them I apologize.

Jeff Dunn
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