If I Could Choose Only One Work By...HARRIS

[@LinnyRaven]

No. 11 is my favourite. Incredibly affecting

[@xenocrates2559]

Thanks for this push for Harris and his talent. Somehow I had missed this post until today. What impresses me about the 3rd is how smoothly Harris goes from mood to mood; the transitions are done with a naturalness that surprised me the first time I heard it and has remained a remarkable feature of the work for me. (I'd love to hear a full version of the 3rd. Hope it gets recorded.)

[@highskip]

Harris No. 3 is my favorite symphony but I never heard it until I was 25. His fifth symphony is also wonderful.

[@MarauderOSU]

I'm proud to say that Roy Harris was from my home state of Oklahoma. And BTW, one-hit wonders of classical music sounds like it would make a good video series as well. :)

[@OuterGalaxyLounge]

Just to be safe in buttering up that volatile and capricious Cancrizans, make sure to offer him a selection of both standard Cheetos and the puff-style ones. I think he'll appreciate the gesture.

[@gregorystanton6150]

Twelve symphonies! Thank you for this. They used to play the 3rd on the radio all the time in the 70s.

[@LordoftheFleet]

Actually, there are 13 numbered symphonies. The 13th symphony was numbered by Harris as Symphony No. 14, out of superstition over the number 13, but posthumously re-numbered as No. 13 with the permission of the composer's widow In 2006, Naxos planned to record the complete cycle, but they only seem to have got as far as No. 9.

[@lawrencechalmers5432]

His 3rd and 7th are my favorite Symphonies by him.

[@mteal9530]

Agree. The 7th symphony is every bit as great, if not greater, than the 3rd.

[@AlexMadorsky]

The first time I heard the 3rd I became immediately obsessed with Roy Harris and worked my way through as many symphonies as I could get my hands on. 4, 6-8, and 11 are also truly wonderful. Harris’s politics become unfashionable during the McCarthy era (although he was a left-wing prairie populist who had never been a Communist Party member), and his music become unfashionable with the rise of serialism and other modernisms. The world became a more cynical place and passed this wonderful composer (and man from what I have read) by. The Bernstein/NY Phil Harris 3/Schuman 3 LP and CD is a mega-classic.

[@jesselara1441]

Harris string quartet 1 is very good and interesting.

[@williamwhittle216]

This IS the great American symphony! My first encounter was the Mercury/Hanson recording with that wonderful album cover. Which recordings ae of the omplete symphony?

[@morrigambist]

I believe Ormandy's was complete, but since my score is in storage, I can't verify this.

[@MikeRusso2000]

Harris 3 is a great work by any standard. I also love his lyrical violin concerto, a piece that needs more exposure.

[@MrEdmundHarris]

Yeah, the violin concerto is a tremendous work.

[@HassoBenSoba]

I agree with "chunky, clunky and awkward" (to which I would add "contrived"), which is why I've never cared for this Symphony. BUT..I played percussion in it many years ago (1971); the orchestra didn't own a xylophone, so we had to disassemble one (from the Cleveland Institute) and truck it in. As we were loading it, in a typical flash of brilliance, I said "the Harris xylophone part doesn't call for any "black notes", so let's save the hassle and pack up only the white keys." But when we set up the xylophone for rehearsal (I was playing the part), it dawned on me that, without the "black" keys in place, it was IMPOSSIBLE to pick out the "white" keys which I needed. I had to quickly devise a way to mark the notes I needed, and hope for the best in performance. Very dis-orienting (and dumb). But at least we saved some time. LR

[@i.m.takkinen]

On the subject of American composers I would be inclined to make some presentation to Kankrasanz on behalf of Louis Moreau Gottschalk. I think one of his early piano works integrating African American/Afro Carribean elements into the idiom are good candidates (Bamboula, though short, is certainly one characteristic and enjoyable possibility).

[@charlescoleman5509]

Didn’t Harris 3 start out life as a Violin Concerto commissioned by Heifetz, but rejected it?

[@LordoftheFleet]

Yes, but I don't know for sure if Heifetz actually rejected it. I think Heifetz's commission simply fell through. The material that eventually became the opening of the Third Symphony was the only segment that Harris used, and I'm not really sure how much of his violin concerto was completed.

[@nb2816]

Delius always maintained that a "sense of flow" was the primary requisite of a piece of music. I've always considered Harris's 3rd as a great example of that sense of flow, where everything unfolds with an inevitability from what precedes it. Sibelius' 7th is another notable example.

[@marknewkirk4322]

One reason why the Harris 3rd is not played all that often is that it is hard as hell, and it's transparent and tonal enough that the hard things are all audible and obvious. It's not just filler you can add to a program as an afterthought. And of course, it's not public domain. That shouldn't matter, but it does. But really, it's just hopelessly out of fashion. The piece needs a champion, a Bernstein-level authority, to stand up for it. Who will that be? I don't see any of the top conductors these days taking an interest in that sort of thing. It's been relegated to Albany or Kuchar's band in Ukraine, and thank goodness for them, at least.

[@leestamm3187]

Unfortunately, there are no Bernstein level authorities around to champion anything these days.

[@gartenkauz2152]

I listened to the work (Bernstein NY 1962). Some parts interesting but overall not enjoyable for me. How do you call this style of Classical Music?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Give it time.

[@RoxxorzYourBoxxorz]

If you or any Harris fans aren't familiar with his Piano Quintet (1936) I enjoy it very much!

[@anthonycook6213]

Just seconds ago I finished listening for my first time to Harris' Symphony 1933 (a newly acquired $2 1960 Columbia mono "bargain bin record" paired with the 7th Symphony -not heard yet-, Koussevitzky/Ormandy respectively) and with Dave's comments from this video in mind. From the beginning, I sensed that the mood of the music, which ranges from grim to grimmer then resolve was referring to the national mood of the stated date and unfortunately familiar today. There is no reason why it should not be in today's repertoire, in fact it is timely and I think any contemplative audience will relate to it. It is not "neoclassic" in the sense of emphasizing any traditional form that I could discern, although it is a tonal work. I think it could be called neo-romantic and a vaguely like Shostakovich, unhurriedly following where melodic ideas lead, but with a Midwestern rather than Russian stoicism. the god Cancrizans might take note that not all distinctive symphonic Americana requires cowboy tunes hold our attention. Yes, Harris deserves to be heard and cherished! Now on to the 7th (after some domestic errands)...

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Thank you for listening and sharing your thoughts with us!