Irving Fine

Irving Fine studied with Walter Piston at Harvard University and with Nadia Boulanger at Radcliffe College and in Paris * Worked as composer, scholar and conductor, teaching at Harvard, Tanglewood and Brandeis * Close associate of Copland, Stravinsky, Koussevitzky and Bernstein * Works of 1940s show strong influence of neo-classicism, combining formal precision, instrumental clarity, rhythmic suppleness and lively counterpoint * From 1950s onwards Romantic ingredients appear, particularly an intense lyricism, combined increasingly with serial procedures * Last completed work before untimely death was Symphony (1962) which he conducted with the Boston Symphony Orchestra * Output also includes immaculately crafted chamber music and a series of imaginative choral works

Works by Irving Fine include:
Toccata Concertante (1947) for orchestra
Notturno for Strings and Harp (1951)
Serious Song: A Lament for String Orchestra (1955)
Symphony (1962) (1962)

"Composer, scholar and conductor, Irving Fine was one of the most gifted products of Boston musical life in the 1940s... there is an attractive lyrical impulse, as well as an ever-impressive economy of thought and texture." — Gramophone