Ernest Bloch - America (Leopold Stokowski)

Information

Composer: Ernest Bloch

• America, an Epic Rhapsody
• Speech by Ernest Bloch

Symphony of the Air

Leopold Stokowski, conductor

Date: 1960

Label: Vanguard

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Ernest Bloch (July 24, 1880 – July 15, 1959) was a Swiss-born American composer known for blending post-Romantic and neoclassical styles with Jewish musical themes. He studied in Switzerland and Belgium, taught at the Geneva Conservatory, and moved to the U.S. in 1916. Bloch became the first director of the Cleveland Institute of Music and later led the San Francisco Conservatory. He taught at UC Berkeley until retiring in 1952. Bloch's compositions, influenced by Debussy, Mahler, and Ravel, include Schelomo, Baal Shem, Avodath Hakodesh, Concerto Grosso No. 1, and Israel Symphony, among others.

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Leopold Stokowski (18 April 1882 – 13 September 1977) was a British-born American conductor known for his flamboyant showmanship, the rich sonorities of his orchestras, and his influence as a popularizer of classical music. Stokowski gained an international reputation as musical director of the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1912 to 1936. He directed the New York Philharmonic from 1946 to 1950 and the Houston Symphony from 1955 to 1962; in 1962 he formed the American Symphony Orchestra in New York City. Stokowski made three films with the Philadelphia Orchestra, including Walt Disney’s Fantasia (1940).

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