"[1] Some of his more well known works include his 1940 Neo-Classical Theme and Variations for Viola and Piano and his A Laurentian Overture, which was premiered by the New York Philharmonic in 1952 under the baton of Guido Cantelli.
Also of note is his 1948 Concerto for Cello and Orchestra which was also premiered by the New York Philharmonic with cellist Leonard Rose and conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos.
In 1929 he won a scholarship from the New York Philharmonic which enabled him to continue his music studies further with cellist Joseph Emonts and composer Winthrop Sargeant for the next three years.
He entered the Juilliard School in 1932 where he studied for five years, principally under cellist Felix Salmond and composers Albert Stoessel and Bernard Wagenaar.
[1][2] During the 1930s and 1940s Shulman worked actively as an arranger for such people as Leo Reisman, Andre Kostelanetz, Arthur Fiedler, and Wilfred Pelletier.
During the mid-1940s, he taught orchestration to Nelson Riddle who later garnered fame as an arranger for singers Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole.
[4] In 1937 the Shulman brothers joined the brand new NBC Symphony Orchestra which was established by David Sarnoff of the National Broadcasting Company especially for conductor Arturo Toscanini.
The following year Alan and Sylvan were among the founding members of the New Friends of Rhythm, a symphonic jazz group that made many recordings between 1939 and 1947, including several by Shulman.
Other members of the group included harpist Laura Newell, jazz clarinetists Buster Bailey and Hank D'Amico, and singer Maxine Sullivan among others.
The string quartet excelled in performing and recording contemporary works by such composers as Ernest Bloch, Sergei Prokofiev, Gian Francesco Malipiero, Hindemith and Fritz Kreisler.
[2] Musicologist Tully Potter, a string-specialist, said the following: The Shulman brothers were among a small group of fabulously gifted New York-based string players whose careers showed a constant tug between earning a living – which often led them into orchestral and session work – and doing something more artistic.
In 1944 his Suite on American Folk Songs premiered at Carnegie Hall with violinist Eudice Shapiro and pianist Vivian Rivkin.
[2] During the 1950s Shulman wrote numerous popular songs with entertainer Steve Allen and he did several arrangements for Skitch Henderson, Raoul Poliakin and Felix Slatkin.