by shostakovich » Fri Feb 02, 2001 1:17 pm
To wrap up the loose end, A.B. was Amy Beach, America's pre-eminent woman composer of the 19th C. Next comes a mystery conductor. He was a "crossover" type long before the term was coined. He did light classics, show tunes, and popular. He and "his orchestra" did for Columbia records what Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops did for RCA. He did guest conduct many major orchestras, but most of his recordings were with "his orchestra". During his long and successful career, he commissioned several new American works. He traveled world wide looking for enjoyable works previously unrecorded (at least in America), including selections from Moscow Cheremushky by the real Shostakovich. His pops recordings, therefore, contained something fresh for the public. In his later career he favored a certain American composer with commissions and "first recordings". I had previously considered using this composer as a mystery man, but I was afraid he might be too tough (unless you are already aware of his music personally). However, in tandem with mystery conductor, who is not in the least obscure, it makes a good double mystery.<P>This composer would not be recognizable as American from his music, which is influenced by middle eastern, Indian, and oriental philosophy and sounds. No one else I know of has produced such a consistent and individual style from beginning to end. Around the age of 30 he destroyed all his compositions, about 1000, before embarking on this style. Imagine if Schubert had done this at age 30 (sorry Peter, for even thinking it). To me, this man's music is very soothing, and the areas of tension are welcome. Occasionally there is violence in the music. A description of this violence is taken from one of his compositions, but the same sound appears in many. Players are instructed to"continue repetition, rapidly and not together in free non-rhythm chaos", each string player playing independently for a given period of time. Yet the relaxation, the tension, the violence in his style are to be found (at least by me) in no one else's. I have about 50 of his works to judge from. <P>If you are already familiar with this man's music, you know who I'm talking about. If not, let me tell you an amusing story that connects the 2 mystery people. Around the time eco-consciousness came onto the scene, there were recordings made of whale "songs". Our conductor suggested to our composer to write something that would include whale sounds. "Great idea!" Composer worked on it, sent the completed score to conductor, who looked it over and said "But where are the whale sounds?" "Oops!" Composer did, indeed, go back and decide where the whale sounds should be included. Naturally, conductor did the premiere. Happy ending.<BR>Shos
<P>By the way, many thanks for taking the trouble to put together these mystery bios for us; they are interesting & informative, & always increase my desire to investigate the works of those whom you spotlight.<P>Peter<P>