Darius Milhaud

A French composer of dramatic, orchestral, vocal, chamber, and instrumental music. Milhaud was a member of "Les Six," whose works were influenced by Erik Satie and Jean Cocteau, and was one of the first composers to use bitonality (playing in two keys at once). In the '20s and '30s he incorporated jazz and Latin rhythms into his music, especially beautifully done in the soulful La création du monde (1923), also notable in Saudades do Brasil (1921) and Le boeuf sur le toit (1919) (named for the avant-garde artists' cafe). Milhaud's fine and prolific sense of melody, which is both modern and pure like the modes of folk music, can be appreciated in works like the Scaramouche Suite and the Sonatina for Oboe & Piano. ~ Blue Gene Tyranny, All Music Guide