Sue Knussen introduces music from the USA of the Great Depression. America's social and political upheavals of the 30s were mirrored in the artistic life of the decade: composers like Aaron Copland and John Cage were trying to break free of their European shackles, and write specifically American music; the indigenous jazz and folk styles were becoming ever more commercialised; and the burgeoning world of Broadway and musical comedy threatened to take over the opera houses. Into this came the influx of Jewish Europeans escaping the rise of fascism. Including: Schuman American Festival Overture
Copland Piano Variations
Seeger String Quartet Varese Density 21.5
Cage Construction in Metal 1
Schoenberg Chamber Symphony No 2
Ruggles Sun-Treader
Producer Christopher Marshall