Experimental American composer born Georg Johann Carl Antheil in Trenton, New Jersey, who is best known for his Ballet Mecanique, for which he threw in everything but the kitchen sink.
Nicknamed “Bad Boy of Music” he would study briefly with Ernest Bloch before eventually pulling up roots and moving to Paris, France, in 1923, where he would move in the circles of the French avant-garde movement and rub elbows with the likes of Pablo Picasso and Erik Satie, although his early works were met with perplexity at best, even among French audiences, and his Ballet met with disastrous reviews in the States.
It wasn’t until he moved to Hollywood in the 1940s and began putting food on the table in more conventional avenues such as film and eventually television music that he enjoyed a modicum of success amongst his contemporaries.
These lucrative efforts afforded him the luxury of completing a Fourth Symphony that met with a glowing reception when it debuted on 13th February, 1944, under the baton of Leopold Stokowski. His late operas likewise would meet with clamourous reviews, although they are rarely performed to this day.
Antheil died of a heart attack in New York City on 12th February, 1959.
Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra recordings
Ballet Mecanique (Revised 1953)
Naxos 8.559060 (CD: ANTHEIL: Ballet Mecanique)
Conductor – Daniel Spalding
Serenade for String Orchestra, No. 1
Naxos 8.559060 (CD: ANTHEIL: Ballet Mecanique)
Conductor – Daniel Spalding
Symphony for Five Instruments (Second Version)
Naxos 8.559060 (CD: ANTHEIL: Ballet Mecanique)
Conductor – Daniel Spalding
Concert for Chamber Orchestra
Naxos 8.559060 (CD: ANTHEIL: Ballet Mecanique)
Conductor – Daniel Spalding
Sources:
- CD liner notes: Naxos 8.559060 (CD: ANTHEIL: Ballet Mecanique)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Antheil
- http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/earshot/the-rise-and-fall-of-george-antheil/6249624
- http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005947/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm
- https://www.discogs.com/artist/79901-George-Antheil
- http://www.allmusic.com/artist/george-antheil-mn0001475367/biography