• Name: Morton Gould
• Birthday: 12/10/1913
• Birth Place: Richmond Hill, NY
• Died: 02/21/1996
• Place of Death: Orlando, FL
• Country: USA
• Period: Modern
• Genre: Classical

Title	Release
Copland: Billy the Kid; Rodeo; Grofe: Grand Canyon Suite [Hybrid SACD] W	2006
Brass & Percussion [Hybrid SACD] W	2005
Jungle Drums	1996
Moon, Wind & Stars	1996
(4) Pavanne, for orchestra (from American Symphonette No. 2)	1941
Delightfully Dangerous, film score W	1946
Home for Christmas, for band W	1947
Symphony No. 3 W
The Bell Fugue, for orchestra	1938
(4) Derivations for clarinet & band
A Capella for chorus & orchestra
(2) A Lincoln Legend, for orchestra	1942
(3) American Ballads, for orchestra WA	1999
(57) American Salute, for orchestra
(12) American Symphonette No. 2, for orchestra	1994
(2) American Youth March, for band	1956
(2) Americana: Five Mood Sketches, for Piano	1998
(3) Arms and the Girl, musical play WA	1950
(2) Ballad, for band	1995
(2) Battle Hymn	1956
(2) Benny's Gig, for clarinet & double bass	1994
(4) Billion Dollar Baby, musical
(11) Boogie Woogie Etude, for piano
(3) Burchfield Gallery for orchestra
CBS Documentary: World War I, film score	1994
(2) Cinerama Holiday	1994
Columbia, broadsides for orchestra on Columbian themes	1971
Columbian Fanfare for brass ensemble WA	1980
(2) Concerto for flute	1994
Concerto for viola & orchestra	1983
Concerto Grosso for4 Solo Violins and orchestra (from Balanchine's ballet 'Audubon')	1994
Cowboy Rhapsody, for orchestra	2008
(5) Dance Variations for 2 pianos & orchestra WA
(2) Dancing Tambourine (after Polla) WA
Declaration for 2 narrators, male speaking chorus, and orchestra	1957
Duo for flute & clarinet	2002
Elegy for string orchestra	1992
Enter Juliet WA
(13) Fall River Legend, ballet	1960
(5) Fanfare for Freedom for brass ensemble WA	1980
(2) Festive Music	1994
Flourishes and Galop for orchestra	1985
(2) Folk Suite for orchestra	1990
(2) Formations for band, Nos 1-8, complete	1995
(4) Fourth of July	1956
(2) Ghost Waltzes
(2) Hamma'ariv Aravim, for tenor, chorus & organ	2001
Harvest	1994
(2) Holocaust, suite from the film score	1994
Horseless Carriage Galop, for band (from "Family Album")
Hosedown, for orchestra, narrator & actor	2002
Housewarming for orchestra	1987
(6) Interplay (American Concertette), for piano & orchestra	1960
It's a Living	1997

Morton Gould was an important American composer, generally overshadowed by Copland, Barber, and Bernstein. Like Bernstein, he wrote in both popular and classical styles and often mixed the two. Many record collectors around the middle of the twentieth century knew him primarily as a conductor of popular music, as well as of newer works in the realm of serious music. His "classical" style in composition generally offered few challenges to listeners and often featured well-known themes of a patriotic or folk origin, or were based on melodies from American composers out of the past. Foster Gallery (1939) and American Ballads (1976) fall into this realm.

Gould was born in Richmond Hill, Long Island, New York. He was a musical prodigy of a rare order, playing the piano and composing by age four. His parents were strongly supportive of their young son and helped to get his first work, a waltz entitled Just Six, both performed and published when he was still only six years old.

By age eight, he was performing regularly on radio broadcasts. Later, he studied at the Institute of Musical Arts in New York and in New York University, where he was instructed in composition by Vincent Jones. He also studied piano with Abby Whiteside. In his late teens, Gould played piano in vaudeville and radio in various freelancing assignments, but also held positions with Radio City Music Hall and NBC. At age 21, (1934) he landed a conducting post with WOR Radio, regularly leading an orchestra in popular music fare. He recorded for RCA beginning in the 1930s and made piano rolls for Ampico.

One of Gould's first successes in composition was his Chorale and Fugue in Jazz (1935), which received a prestigious premiere on January 2, 1936, with Leopold Stokowski leading the Philadelphia Orchestra. Gould was beginning to turn out many significant compositions now: his Piano Concerto came in 1937 and his Violin Concerto in 1938. The following year, he wrote the aforementioned work based on popular Stephen Foster themes, Foster Gallery, which was subsequently recorded by Arthur Fiedler and The Boston Pops Orchestra.

Gould became music director of the popular radio programs "The Chrysler Hour" and "Cresta Blanca Carnival" in the 1940s. He composed three symphonies (of four) in that decade, as well as a spate of other works, including his Viola Concerto (1943) and Fall River Legend (1947).

Gould also wrote for Broadway, turning out Billion Dollar Baby in 1945 and Arms and the Girl in 1950. In 1944, he appeared in the film Delightfully Dangerous, for which he wrote the score. His career scoring films continued with other efforts including Cinerama Holiday (1955) and Windjammer (1958). He also composed numerous scores for television shows in the 1960s and 1970s. His last important effort here was for the mini-series Holocaust (1978), which starred Meryl Streep. In 1966, Gould received a Grammy award for his recording with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra of Ives' First Symphony.

Gould continued to write concert music, as well, though one might assert that the film world may ultimately have sabotaged his chances somewhat to attain a higher level of art. Still, his Symphony of Spirituals and American Ballads, both premiered in 1976, demonstrated his undiminished talent. From 1986 until 1994 he served as president of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). In 1995, Gould received a Pulitzer Prize for his composition Stringmusic. ~ Robert Cummings, All Music Guide