Grofe

Ferde Grofé (1892 – 1972) was a prominent American composer, arranger and pianist. During the 1920s and 1930s, he went by the name Ferdie Grofé. Grofé remains most famous for his Grand Canyon Suite (1931), a work regarded highly enough to be recorded for RCA Victor with the NBC Symphony conducted by Arturo Toscanini (in Carnegie Hall in 1945, with the composer present). The earlier Mississippi Suite is also occasionally performed and recorded. Grofé conducted the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in his Grand Canyon Suite and his piano concerto (with pianist Jesús Maria Sanromá) for Everest Records in 1960; the recording was digitally remastered and issued on CD in 1997.