 | Scott Joplin: His Complete Works
Buy used from: $14.35 Joplin IS America. Ragtime is to my knowledge, the first distinctly American music and Joplin is the best!
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 | American Beauties: The Rags of Joseph Lamb by Virginia Eskin
Buy new: $10.98 Lamb was another extremely popular ragtime writer. More chordal variation and less rythm than Joplin. His obscurity is a disgrace to ragtime!
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 | Gottschalk: Piano Music
Buy new: $21.98 / Used from: $6.22 Another unjustly ignored composer, Gottschalk was the first popular creole composer. Ranging from Chopin-esque etuedes to pot-boilers, Gottschalk had a Mozart like eptitude for creating simple melody.
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 | Ives: An American Journey by Michael Tilson Thomas
Buy new: $8.98 / Used from: $3.94 Charles Ives music is unique. He ranges from the dissonant and quirky to the soulfully symphonic. A lawyer by trade, he deliberately stayed away from making music a 'career.'
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 | Gershwin: Rhapsody In Blue/An American In Paris/Grofé: Grand Canyon Suite
Buy used from: $2.96 I may be the only listener who does not like Gershwin, but you can't go wrong with 'Rhapsody in Blue' which fuses American jazz with European classical techniques.
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 | Music of Samuel Barber: Adagio for Strings, Op. 11/Orchestral Music; Leonard Slatkin by Samuel Barber
Buy new: $13.99 / Used from: $6.23 Barber originally wrote 'Adagio for Strings' as source music for a film. Beware though, his other works, although very melodic, can be quite dissonant.
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 | From Maine to Oregon
Buy new: $13.98 / Used from: $0.98 Most people find Sousa's marches cheesy. They have not listened close enough. With catchy melodies and danceable rythms, these marches are the very definition of entertainment!!
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 | Music for 18 Musicians
Buy new: $16.98 / Used from: $9.59 Now we come to American minimalism. The concept here is limited harmonic and melodic content. This work made Steve Reich an American staple.
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 | Philip Glass: Circles (music for piano solo, more than one piano, or piano and cello) by Arturo Stalteri
Glass is another minimalist and probably the most famous (By the way, both he and Reich hate the term). This is a great introduction to minimalism.
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 | Music in Twelve Parts by Philip Glass
Buy new: $43.98 / Used from: $16.99 This is for the more experienced listener. Performed by the Philip Glass Ensemble, consisting of amplified winds, keyboards and vocals, this CD is classic Glass.
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 | Kamen: The New Moon in the Old Moon's Arms
Buy used from: $5.97 This CD will change any classical music snob's mind. Although known as a film scorer (Mr. Holland's Opus), Kamen deserves to be taken seriously as a good composer!!
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