Having skimmed through the “Classical Music” section of Kingman’s excellent introduction to American Music[1], I decided to check out just what I had in the American classical music line in my own collection. I was a bit taken aback at how much I already have. Not only the really big names like Copland, Barber, Ives and Cage, but Amy Beach, Paul Creston, Roy Harris, William Schuman, Gershwin, Diamond, Corigliano, Bazelon, Schuller, Hanson, MacDowell, Crumb, Partch, Glass, Carter, Sousa, Reich, Riley, Blackwood, Bernstein, Feldman, Griffes, Babbitt, Dett, Bolcom, Wuorinen…it goes on. Some of these composers (Ives, Copland, Barber, Cage, Wuorinen) are represented by a good number of recordings too!
The point is, much of this music is relatively unknown by me (having listened to it maybe only a couple of times or so) and now I feel a mental obligation to reengage with it! This is a rather daunting amount of listening. Still, without cause, it might very well remain unheard for some time yet (this is always the greatest peril of amassing a large recorded music collection).
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