Credits:

Diamond, David (1915-2005)

Description:

Born in New York City, Diamond studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Eastman School of Music, and in Paris under Nadia Boulanger. 19 years old, he entered a competition in which Gershwin served as a judge. Diamond's works were loved by famous conductors such as Koussevitzky, Szell, Ormandy, and Bernstein, who all performed them. He never took an avant-garde approach, but always wrote works that were pleasing to the ear. His "Round," praised by Mitropoulos, and his suite for "Romeo and Juliet," composed three years later, are as good as Prokofiev's. The film director Peter Grenville wrote "The Rounds," and the "Romeo and Juliet" suite for "The Last Song," composed three years later, is as good as Prokofiev's. The film director Peter Grenville once suggested that he would like to use it in his own film (it never materialized). Symphony No. 6," written in the traditional style, was a problematic work that was vilified by critics at the time of its premiere. It was ridiculed as "he does not know tradition," but now, 50 years after its premiere, it is a perfectly acceptable and easy to listen to work. Naxos Japan