All Things Considered’s Tom Crann interviews one of Minnesota's most celebrated composers, Dominick Argento. In a new memoir, Argento says he has as little insight as anyone into what happens when he sits down to compose. So instead, he offers a series of reflections on his lifetime of work, the individual pieces, and teaching and learning in Minnesota. Those memories include his first impression of the state, when he was called to teach at the University of Minnesota on the first weekend of the school year in 1958.

Argento’s book is titled “Catalogue Raisonne As Memoir: A Composer’s Life.”