J L Zaimont <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>... If we exempt figures such as Hovhannes, Copland, Roy Harris, Antheil,
>Ives, etc., I suspect that "many" is c.  5 or under.  No parity here for
>this repertoire with the attendtion on disc devoted to older, European
>works.
>
>Does this in and of itself constitute a publicity issue for quality
>American works?

I am of the school of thought that the US has produced a substantive
amount of music of great substance, music which, for the most part is
unexplored and rotting away on shelves.  It isn't just a question of
those works that provide "problematic" listening.  Some months ago I
was in contact with composer John Pozdro.  Perhaps some of you know his
3rd Symphony, recorded on CRI.  John shared with me tapes of his Second
Symphony, which is an excellent work with a particularly fine last
movement.  His First Symphony has never been performed.  This is typical
of so many stories I know of American composers.

There is so much that could be explored.  While some of his music
is "problematic," only one of the Symphonies by John J.  Becker has
been recorded.  What about people like Converse, Cowell, 5th and 6th by
Creston, most of the symphonies by Sowerby, Delamarter, several of the
Diamond Symphonies, only one Ray Luke Symphony has been recorded, the
Rudolph Gott Symphony by Farwell, 1st and 4th by Finney, several by
Giannini, Morton Gould's First (a fine piece by the way), Whithorne (the
second is also a fine work), several by Hadley, several Harris remain
unrecorded, 4 Symphonies by Hill (excellent scores), 3 by Daniel Gregory
Mason, Arthur Bird, Kennan, Kerr, Bernard Rogers, Horatio Parker, La
Montaine, and some of the less tonal composers: Blackwood (early period,
nos 2 & 3) Binkerd; immigrant composers like Dukelsky, Lopatnikoff,
Dubensky, Freed, Gruenberg, Koutzen, Ornstein, the 1st and 3rd by Haieff,
et al.,

And then I think of the unperformed Symphonies by Muczynski, EB Hill
(his 4th) the 5th of Sowerby, the First by Lees.

Not to diminish the wonderful efforts of the Louisville Orchestra, and
other organizations like the Society for the Preservation of the American
Musical Heritage, we still don't have good recordings of many of the
landmark works of the American Symphonic repertoire, pieces like the 3rd
and 7th of Piston, the Sixth by Harris, etc.

Then there are many works from the Eastman School by the likes of Mennini,
Adler (his first two Symphonies are quite tonal), etc.  I like to look
through the repertoire lists of the old Eastman American Music Festivals
and wonder what some of those works were like.

There is so much that could be done.

It seems sad the Naxos appears to have lost its way with its American
Music Series.

Karl

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