Elie Siegmeister (1909-1991) Piano Music, Vol. 2

Elie Siegmeister is one of a handful of American composers who gave rise to a distinctly American style of music in the twentieth century. Strongly influenced by the works of Charles Ives, Siegmeister extended his own imaginative use of musical colour and drama over virtually every instrumental and vocal genre. The qualities that bind together all his music are deeply rooted human emotions and strongly expressive characterizations, along with a focus on traditional compositional architecture and techniques.

Elie Siegmeister was born in New York City in 1909 into an upper-middle-class family of Russian-Jewish origin. Although he demonstrated no extraordinary aptitude for music study as a boy, frequent trips with his father to hear the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera eventually stirred his creative imagination. After early piano lessons with Emil Friedberger, he went on to study music t