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Donald Macleod explores, Rorem the budding composer, including a period in Paris.

Ned Rorem was an American composer and writer, and was hailed by some as the greatest art song composer of his time. Writing over 500 songs, his music has been described as neo-romantic, leaning at times towards a more lyrical nature. Early musical influences upon Rorem were Margaret Bonds, Virgil Thomson, Aaron Copland and also Arthur Honegger. After a period of living in Paris where he associated with members of Les Six, as well as frequent trips to Morocco, Rorem eventually settled back in the USA for the rest of his life. He went on to win a Pulitzer Prize in 1976 for his orchestral work, Air Music.

Rorem also wrote seventeen books, six of which were intimate diaries. These earned him a certain reputation from the 1960s onwards, particularly for his openness about his regular sexual encounters with men. During this period, Rorem also had issues with alcohol and drugs, but his life steadily settled when he entered into a long-term relationship with the composer and choral director James Holmes. They purchased a house together in Nantucket, and Rorem often relied upon Holmes for feedback concerning his own music.
Ned Rorem was interviewed by Donald Macleod for Composer of the Week back in 2003. There will be excerpts from this interview throughout the week.

Rorem’s parents were supportive of his musical endeavours, and he had a number of teachers in his early years. The composer Margaret Bonds helped Rorem to notate his compositions, and later he studied composition and orchestration with Gian Carlo Menotti at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. In 1943, Rorem entered the Julliard School in New York, and he went on to win the George Gershwin Memorial Prize in composition. In the late 1940s, he was awarded a fellowship to study at the Berkshire Music Centre in Tanglewood. It was in 1949 that Rorem would travel to France, and in Paris he met Nadia Boulanger and studied with Arthur Honegger. Rorem lived life to the full, and he mixed in the circles of Jean Cocteau, Auric and Poulenc, and of Marie Laure, Vicomtesse de Noailles. In 1955 Rorem returned to New York, and began to establish himself as a composer in America.

Early in the morning
Susan Graham, mezzo-soprano
Malcolm Martineau, piano

The Lordly Hudson
Susan Graham, mezzo-soprano
Malcolm Martineau, piano

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Susan Graham, mezzo-soprano
Malcolm Martineau, piano

Dance Suite (excerpt)
Arianna Goldina, piano
Rémy Loumbrozo, piano

Piano Concerto No 2 (excerpt)
Simon Mulligan, piano
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
José Serebrier, conductor

Piano Sonata No 3 (excerpt)
Thomas Lanners, piano

Sing My Soul
St John’s College Choir, Cambridge
Andrew Nethsingha, director

Symphony No 2 (excerpt)
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
José Serebrier, conductor

Produced by Luke Whitlock

Knowing When to Stop, published by Simon and Schuster; The Paris Diary and The New York Diary, published by Da Capo Press; The Later Diaries, published by Da Capo Press; The Nantucket Diary, published by North Point Press; Facing the Night, published by Shoemaker & Hoard; Lies, published by Counterpoint; Settling the score, published by Doubleday.