American Composers

It took America a while to get in the classical game (hey, Bach had already been dead 25 years before the Declaration of Independence was even written), but our composers are world-class now. Gershwin and Copland were the Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth of 20th-century American Classical music. Copland's ten-note opening theme to "Fanfare for the Common Man" and Gershwin's jazzy "Rhapsody in Blue" rank with Beethoven's "Symphony #5" as being among the most instantly recognizable masterpieces of all time. And where would we be without "The Stars and Stripes Forever," the king of John Phillip Sousa's roof-raising, foot-stomping marches?

Ferde Grofé's "Grand Canyon Suite: I. Sunrise" captures the spirit of the Old West, right down to the clip-clop of the mule team trudging through the badlands. Meanwhile, in Gotham City, the Caped Crusader's exploits are being underscored by Danny Elfman's brooding "The Batman Theme." And the court jester of American classics, Leroy Anderson, has his keyboard composition tippy-tapped in "The Typewriter."

The New York Phil's Leonard Bernstein was a triple threat: pianist, conductor, and composer; and he performed each task con brio. Bernstein's interpretation of his friend Aaron Copland's "Symphony No. 3: II. Fugue" is as brawny and expansive as the land itself. And when Roy Harris' "Symphony No. 4 'Folk Song Symphony' for Orchestra and Chorus of Mixed Voices (1939): Johnny Comes Marching Home" was first performed, one critic wrote that it sounds "something like the American continent rising up and saying hello."

The New York Phil's Leonard Bernstein was a triple threat: pianist, conductor, and composer; and he performed each task con brio. Bernstein's interpretation of his friend Aaron Copland's "Symphony No. 3: II. Fugue" is as brawny and expansive as the land itself. And when Roy Harris' "Symphony No. 4 'Folk Song Symphony' for Orchestra and Chorus of Mixed Voices (1939): Johnny Comes Marching Home" was first performed, one critic wrote that it sounds "something like the American continent rising up and saying hello."