1902-1984
Meredith Willson is The Music Man.
Sure, he did many other great things, including another Broadway musical The Unsinkable Molly Brown, but The Music Man, set at his hometown in Iowa, will always be his quintessential work.
Like Robert Russell Bennett, who also worked in the musical theatre world, Willson apparently has a treasure trove of classical music scores laying around somewhere, waiting to see the light of day.
Really there is only one recording of Willson's concert music, at least without scrounging around the Internet Archive, SoundCloud, or other dark recesses of the World Wide Web,
My hope was the one recording would spur more to come after it, but alas, it was not to be. Let us hope some other enterprising musicians are looking to discover more quality Americana.
Recordings and reviews currently on hand (Click below to visit):
1999: Symphony 1 & 2