Ned Rorem (born October 23, 1923) is an American composer and diarist, best known and most praised for his song settings. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1976. Winter Pages (1981) 1. A Mirror 2. The Sun That Brief December Day (0:45) 3. Around the House the Flakes Fly Faster (4:03) 4. Paris Then (6:35) 5. Dorchester Avenue (8:23) 6. Hesitation (10:06) 7. Urged by Earnest Violins (11:53) 8. Moments Fly By Like Snowstorms (19:03) 9. Rue des Saintes-Pères (20:53) 10. Valse Oubliée (22:16) 11. Stone Snowballs (24:12) 12. Still Life (27:09) Todd Palmer, clarinet Frank Morelli, bassoon Ida Kavafian, violin Fred Sherry, cello Charles Wadsworth, piano Rorem was born in Richmond, Indiana and received his early education in Chicago at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, the American Conservatory of Music and then Northwestern University. Later, Rorem moved on to the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia and finally the Juilliard School in New York City. In 1966 he published The Paris Diary of Ned Rorem, which, with his later diaries, has brought him some notoriety, as he is honest about his and others' sexuality, describing his relationships with Leonard Bernstein, Noël Coward, Samuel Barber, and Virgil Thomson, and outing several others (Aldrich and Wotherspoon, eds., 2001). Rorem has written extensively about music as well. These essays are collected in anthologies such as Setting the Tone, Music From the Inside Out, and Music and People. His prose is much admired, not least for its barbed observations about such prominent musicians as Pierre Boulez. Rorem has composed in a chromatic tonal idiom throughout his career, and he is not hesitant to attack the orthodoxies of the avant-garde. His notable students include Daron Hagen.

• published: 11 Oct 2014
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