Randall Thompson (not pictured above) was a fine American composer, though distinctly unphotogenic (see below), and his 2nd Symphony is a piece I’ve admired for a good long while. There exist two recordings that I know of, one, of course, by Lenny and the other by Neeme Järvi of all people. This is one of those piece that I fell in love with, via Lenny, in high school, and I still pester people to program it (though I admittedly have never programmed it myself.)
The piece is richly orchestrated, overtly melodic, and veeery 1930’s American. I’ve always found something deeply familiar about the second movement, and I’ve just figured out what it is.
Listen to the second movement of Mr. Thompson’s symphony
and notice that the melody, harmony, key, orchestration and style were all lifted shamelessly by one George Bruns for the score of Disney’s The Jungle Book.
And I applaud him for it!
[Addendum: it would appear that Walter Sheets also deserves some of the blame/credit for this lift. And for some of the best alto flute writing ever.]