American Symphonette No. 2
While Leonard Bernstein is often seen as the multifaceted American musician who wore just about every musical hat—the garland probably most justifiable belongs to Morton Gould. What didn’t he do—and stunningly successfully? He was literally a household name during the nineteen forties and fifties, and was an active composer into his eighties. A child prodigy, he composed from a remarkably early age. By his late teenage years he was playing professionally in movie theatres and vaudeville, but got his big break as the staff pianist in 1932 for the newly opened Radio City Music Hall. Positions as conductor and arranger on national radio shows soon followed, as well as commissions for music for Broadway shows, film, ballets, and ultimately, television. His purview was cer >>>