A Descent into the Maelstrom (1985). Philip Glass /champagne promenade/

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I wish the SF Symphony good lick with their upcoming "my classic American Composers" concert. It's music by Copland and Gershwin. But wait, there's more:

Arrive one hour prior to the concert for a complimentary champagne promenade, plus music and dancing with the Martini Brothers.

This also has me thinking who are my classic American composers. Ignoring jazz for today, I'll go with three:

1. Aaron Copland
2. Philip Glass maybe up through the early eighties
3. John Cage

More importantly, who are our classic American composers? Here's a first incomplete pass (from counting Google search results):

1. Philip Glass 1,360,000
2. George Gershwin 1,360,000
3. John Cage 1,200,000
4. Aaron Copland 636,000
5. Steve Recih 615,000
6. Charles Ives 424,000
7. Terry Riley 316,000
8. Morton Feldman 222,000
9. Lou Harrison 104,000
10. Alan Hovhaness 80,900

For obvious reasons, this method doesn't work for composers with overloaded names e.g. this one, or for composers notable as conductor/celebrities.

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