Transatlantica!
America might have come late to the classical music party. But when it finally arrived, it cast a spell over the rest of the world. European composers have been held in thrall by the confidence and glamour of the American aesthetic – as much as by its honesty and depth – since the 1800s.
Read more…That was when Antonín Dvořák was lured to New York, creating such masterpieces as his "American" String Quartet and "New World" Symphony out of the folk music he heard in the country. When jazz emerged in New Orleans and made its way to Harlem, the floodgates opened. European composers from Ravel to Turnage have been mesmerized by jazz's toe-tapping rhythms and exotic blue notes.
War and fascism forced a generation of headline composers to emigrate to the USA from Europe – among them Stravinsky, Rachmaninoff and Bartók. They were fired by the virtuosity of American orchestras, while the richness of America poetry has continued to inspire Europeans including Anders Hillborg.