American Music

[shamokin88]

I have deleted the Schuman 2 file twice; it is now in its third upload incarnation with yet another URL [/?slu36 . . . .] which I hope solves the problem. This baffles me - I'm new at this but everything looked all right. Please let me know. Shamokin88.

[Dundonnell]

Third time lucky

The download works now

It is fascinating to be able to listen to the symphony which, as you know, was withdrawn by the composer. The performance you have been able to make available is, as you say, the last time it was performed. I have always found this decision by Schuman rather strange. Copland certainly expressed his very strong admiration for the symphony.

[jerfilm]

When I tried to download the Schuman file I was directed back to my own Mediafire Account. The Diamond and the Burlingame Hill downloaded perfectly.

I had the same experience with a different file the other day.  Then I rebooted AOL and it worked fine.  But AOL does funny things and I'm learning to use Firefox for a lot of downloading and uploading kinds of events.

Jerry

[eschiss1]

Re Schuman 2 - yay! Fortunately (if only for curiosity's sake... I've only heard it once, I mean...) Harris' also withdrawn 2nd has been performed recently(ish) and recorded, but indeed no sign of this - thanks! (The online record says 1936-7, though, not 1938- I don't know one way the other myself.)

[Amphissa]

Charles Martin Loeffler was born in Germany but immigrated to the U.S. when young and got his citizenship as quickly as legally possible after arriving. He was one of the most prominent composers and musicians in Boston for more than 50 years. So, since Wikipedia has him on the list of American composers, I'll put him in the American folder. I have a couple more pieces by him to upload, but "A Pagan Poem" is one of his more interesting.

[X. Trapnel]

Amphissa, thanks so much for the Loeffler; this is an exceptionally fine performance, every bit as good as Stokowski's and superior to Manuel Rosenthal's, both from the fifties. I remain astonished at the utter neglect on the part of record companies of this (I think) great and once quite famous and popular composer. While I'll certainly purchase Dutton's Converse release, I can't help wishing that Loeffler (especially his symphony Hora Mystica and tone poem Evocation) had been the beneficiary of their new-found interest in American music.

[Lord Hereford]

Thanks for uploading the Schuman 2nd symphony, I never thought I'd have a chance to hear it! It's well worth a listen despite the dodgy sound quality.

It is fascinating to be able to listen to the symphony which, as you know, was withdrawn by the composer. The performance you have been able to make available is, as you say, the last time it was performed. I have always found this decision by Schuman rather strange. Copland certainly expressed his very strong admiration for the symphony.

My understanding is that originally it was only temporarily withdrawn, as he intended to revise it. Evidently he either abandoned that project or just never got round to it.

Incidentally, William Schuman is this week's "composer of the week" on BBC Radio 3.

[eschiss1]

Re Huffman and Read - I see that Bales is also known for having premiered at least two of Ives' symphonies with the same orchestra, for instance. Hadn't heard of him...
I have heard a work by Read before - his "Night Flight", when I was working (food service) at Interlochen for a summer- and can only say that I know many serial works that made a good deal more sense than it did. "Avoiding serialism" is not, for all the hype surrounding composers of the latter half of the 20th century, a priori a virtue, if one has nothing to say. (What it is is certainly irrelevant and irritating in a description if I may say so...)

Hopefully that was an exception or I was simply not yet sharp enough of ear and hopefully I shall enjoy the symphonies more.

[lechner1110]

  Dear cypressdome

  Thank you very much to upload Mason's 2nd and 3rd.
  I also got these from other group, but I deleted these by my mistake.
  Thanks


  Best
  A.S

[Mark Thomas]

Yes, many thanks for the Mason pieces, cypressdome.

[Dundonnell]

The second of the two links to files containing Henry Cowell's Symphony No.10 does not work, I am afraid

[britishcomposer]

Dundonnell: Cowell 10 works; you just have to replace the slash after 'www' with a dot: not 'www/' but 'www.'

But I am sure, shamokin88 will fix it soon!

However, the link to 'Tales of Our Countryside' doesn't work for me?

BTW: I know only No. 15 from an old Radio Bremen broadcast. Are they all as dreadful as this or is it just my recording?

[Dundonnell]

Dundonnell: Cowell 10 works; you just have to replace the slash after 'www' with a dot: not 'www/' but 'www.'

But I am sure, shamokin88 will fix it soon!

However, the link to 'Tales of Our Countryside' doesn't work for me?

Thank you, sir

[shamokin88]

Henry Cowell

I have given a new URL to Tales of Our Countryside and corrected the unwanted slash in the second part of Symphony #10 with a dot. I remain eternally hopeful, however.

As for 15 I think it is not a very strong piece. The first time I heard it, in 1962, my window was open and I was convinced that a distant siren was wailing. It was not so distant.

Both 4 and 11 are worth the effort.

Best from Shamokin88.

[Latvian]

However, the link to 'Tales of Our Countryside' doesn't work for me

Bless you, shamokin88, for uploading these, and for the promise of more to come!

Unfortunately, I still can't get the link for Tales to work...