Leo Ornstein
ABOUT LEO ORNSTEIN
Early 20th-century experimental musician of innovative, shocking compositions. He championed avant-garde composers.
He became the first composer to use the tone cluster to great effect. An example of this can be found in "Wild Men's Dance" from 1913-14.
He abandoned his fame and disappeared in the mid-1920s, but continued writing, only to come back in the 1970s. His final piano sonata was published when he was 97.
He died when he was 108. He was survived by his daughter, son, five grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.
He began making piano rolls for the Ampico label after leaving his concert career, recording such composers as Frederic Chopin, Robert Schumann, and Franz Liszt .
