Most recordings of serious American music are practically unobtainable in phonograph shops, but the radio stations seem to have them and perform them. Gershwin's music is universally known and liked. Among living Americans the names of Samuel Barber, Roy Harris, Walter Piston and William Schuman are most familiar. In each city visited I made certain to inquire about the younger composers. Buenos Aires has produced an impressive batch of youngsters, thanks to an active concert life and several competent teachers.
Brazil has fine composers but few good teachers.
The pickings in Rio at the present time are therefore disturbingly thin. Speaking generally, music of the French school no longer exerts so exclusive and pervasive an influence on the younger generation as was true of their elders. That's a step in advance. Music-lovers who imagine that South America is still a music desert, creatively considered, simply don't know what is going on. Composers like Camargo Guarnieri, Luis Gianneo, Jose Maria Castro and Alberto Ginastera are worth anybody's time.