Symphonic Sketches
This is a wonderful reissue from 1950s-vintage recordings (though the  quality is such that you won't be able to tell) of the works of American  composers born in the 19th century--the dinosaurs of American music. Their works  tend to be rooted in some of the same folk songs Charles Ives (a much younger  contemporary of Chadwick and MacDowell) would later go on to butcher and twist.  Curiously, while this music hadn't become particularly American yet, it  certainly isn't European, either. Already these men are searching for a unique  American idiom. This disc and this music are necessary for the fossil record.--Paul Cook