Morton Gould (1913-1996) was an American conductor, composer, and pianist. He was recognized as a child prodigy very early in his life, and as a result he published his first composition before his seventh birthday. His talents led him to become the staff pianist for Radio City Music Hall when it opened in 1932. He went on to compose movie soundtracks, Broadway musicals, and instrumental pieces for orchestra and band while also cultivating an international career as a conductor. Among the honors he received were the 1995 Pulitzer Prize, the 1994 Kennedy Center Honor, a 1983 Gold Baton Award, and a 1966 Grammy Award. By the time of his death in 1996 he was widely revered as an icon of American classical music.
Cowboy Rhapsody exists in both an orchestral version (the original) and a band version, arranged with some edits by David Bennett. The band version was premiered by the University of Michigan Band under William Revelli in 1940. This performance reportedly inspired Gould to write more for band, leading to his several famous contributions to the literature. Cowboy Rhapsody uses several famous cowboy songs, including “The Trail to Mexico“, “Little Old Sod Shanty“, “Home on the Range“, “Old Paint“, and others, to create a piece that straddles the line between tone poem and medley. Gould’s treatment, especially the off-stage echoes in the middle, captures the wide-open atmosphere of the cowboy lifestyle of legend.
I performed this with the Arizona State University Concert Band on March 1, 2014. You’ll hear a lot of trumpet given the camera placement, but otherwise this is a solid performance that represents how the piece is supposed to go:
“The Trail to Mexico” performed by country music legend Foy Willing:
“Little Old Sod Shanty” performed by Yodelin’ Slim Clark
“Home on the Range”, still famous across the USA, featuring Gene Autry:
A good deal of my Cowboy Rhapsody information came from this dissertation. It also gets a mention at the Wind Repertory Project, and it is featured (in its orchestral version) on this compilation. It is a piece that deserves more study and performance.
There are several short biographies of Gould on the Internet. Each one is more glowing than the last:
Wikipedia – concise biography and list of works.
Wise Music – Gould’s publisher gives an eloquent account of the composer’s life.
Kennedy Center – Heaps yet more praise on the composer.
There is even an entire book dedicated to the biography of Morton Gould, by Peter W. Goodman. It is called American Salute.
Google books preview of the book here.
Review of said book here.