American music lovers...do you ignore your own composers?

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Many of these people, it seems, aren't as popular in America.

I like Copland...Barber is OK in my perspective (although his only recognized piece is the Adagio..).
I like other musicians from America though. Like Gershwin, Joplin and the like.

I have heard of a few of the guys you mentioned (George Templeton, Schuman...) But I haven't taken the time to look them up extensively.

When I go to a CD shop here, in any place (fye, Barnes and Noble, music stores)...it's always "Beethoven" this "Mozart" that, "Pachabel's Canon" (one CD I saw had 24 tracks of straight Canon, each played with different instruments/ensembles).

Rarely do I find a "Copland CD" and if I do, it's the stereotypical "Hoedown" and other Western ballet themes.

Perhaps I'll start looking some of these guys up more....Show more

Well, I guess I'm not a nationalist. I choose what music I listen to based on whether I like it or not, not by the nationality of the composer.

As for the ones you've listed, I could take or leave MacDowell (have only heard one or two pieces, though), Hovhaness, Virgil Thompson, and Siegmeister. I dislike David Diamond, Howard Hanson, Walter Piston, and William Grant Still. I don't think I've ever heard anything by Grofe, Carpenter, Stong, or McKay.

But I do like some Copland, Barber, Beach, Bernstein (though he's not on the list), and Schuman. And I think that Griffes is an extremely under-appreciated composer.

I'd also suggest that we add Carl Ruggles, Vincent Persichetti, John Adams, and John Corigliano to the list. Then there's the usual suspects of American serialism, which I like, but don't expect many other people to get excited about (Babbitt, Krenek, et al)....Show more

Speaking from a Brit's perspective, I enjoy a lot of the composers you have mentioned. I have to admit that my patience wears thin with those such John Alden Carpenter, George Templeton Strong, Gregory Mason, George Chadwick and Willian Henry Fry (some of whose music is so like Verdi's it's unbelievable), who, it must be said, are often just pale imitators of their European contemporaries. I believe it was only with Ives and Ruggles that 'American' composers truly found their voice - and even then, some proved very 'European' in the approach (eg Hanson, Piston, Randall Thompson - even Paul Creston to an extent).

I enjoy the slightly more recent American composers with a clear and original voice such as William Schuman (shamefully neglected), David Diamond, Joseph Schwantner, George Rochberg and John Corigliano. I would be interested to learn just how much exposure such composers receive in their homeland....Show more

Hm, I'm interested in the answers to this question :) I haven't listened to anything but Copland and Barber, but I haven't listened to enough in general. I'll admit, though, that every time I hear Dvorak's "New World" it hits me with a jolt- wait, he's talking about America? Somehow classical music and America just don't seem to go together! Conservatories, sure, great orchestras, undoubtedly, but composers? Even if it's antiquated and not fair, I definitely have a natural bias toward American composers. I think almost everyone does... :(...Show more

Interesting question... I must confess that I find most of the music (American and otherwise) pretty banal after the advent of the sixties. Obviously there are some exceptions (Hanson, Ruggles et al) but the charge in more recent times is led by the likes of Adams, Glass, Messiaen and Ligeti (none of whose music I find particularly enthralling at this stage of my life). So much modern music seems unremarkable, but I don't think this matters whether it is European or American. There are few composers in the contemporary period whose output is consistently high. Even the likes of Copland, who you mentioned, can be adequately summarized in a few CDs. The influences outside of the artistic sphere seem to have led particularly American composers astray. Take Gershwin for example, who ultimately became the prototypical "cross over" artist. "Embraceable you" whilst a truly great song, is not really a classical piece. And so it goes, commercialism became the driving force behind musical composition particularly in America (and in most of the west) and more artistic music retreated into the halls of academia, where its various merits and demerits are debated by the grey beards.
I have a great deal more exploring to do before I completely write off music created after 1960, but it seems you have to sift through a lot of chaff to find the few kernels of quality substantial art music, much of which seems to have become disconnected from the more discerning listening public whilst making forays into the weird, ugly and downright "unmusical." This in turn has exacted the ever increasing lack of interest in art music on the part of the public which by and large perceives it as irrelevant.
It is this same phenomenon that causes our perveyors of classical music to program "unadventurous" selections in fear that they will be unable to attract a paying audience.
This is the single most aggravating thing for advocates of the "New" music.

I guess I got a little off topic, but it is how I perceive the lack of attention paid to modern composers... American and otherwise.


Edit: By the way... how refreshing to get a REAL classical music question. They seem to become rarer and rarer, inondated with the FREE sheet music and Bellas questions. This is what the classical music category should be all about....Show more