The Best Composer You’ve Never Heard Of

Wall Street Journal:

It’s been a long time since an American classical composer became famous, much less popular. Philip Glass was probably the last one whose name would be passably well known to the public at large, and even Mr. Glass isn’t nearly as famous as, say, Aaron Copland. That says a lot about the marginal place of high culture in America—none of it good.

So who ought to be famous? Or, to put it another way, who’s writing classical music these days that’s accessible enough to satisfy lay listeners, yet serious enough to impress trained musicians?

Morten Lauridsen, that’s who.