Although the American vernacular music of Aaron Copland remains justly celebrated, much other American neo-classic music from the 1920s to the '50s -- when international serialism pummeled the stuffing out of neo-classicism -- falls into the camp of the unknown and obscure. That's bad news for composers like Harold Shapero, who studied with Ernst Krenek, Walter Piston, Paul Hindemith, and Nadia Boulanger, among others; winning the prize to the American Academy of Rome in 1941, he was unable to take advantage of it at the ...
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Although the American vernacular music of Aaron Copland remains justly celebrated, much other American neo-classic music from the 1920s to the '50s -- when international serialism pummeled the stuffing out of neo-classicism -- falls into the camp of the unknown and obscure. That's bad news for composers like Harold Shapero, who studied with Ernst Krenek, Walter Piston, Paul Hindemith, and Nadia Boulanger, among others; winning the prize to the American Academy of Rome in 1941, he was unable to take advantage of it at the time due to war's outbreak; he finally took his residency in 1970. Shapero taught at Brandeis University for 37 years and founded its electronic studio; he has also been a Guggenheim fellow. In the era of the LP, Shapero's music was infrequently recorded, but it did appear; a particularly treasurable vinyl item is a never-reissued Columbia Masterworks recording of Shapero's Sonata for Piano Four Hands (1941) as performed by the composer with pianist/composer Leo Smit. At the world...
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