Customer Reviews

Roy Harris: Symphonies Nos. 7 & 9

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This is a positive review (anyone who likes American music should buy this disc), which nevertheless takes up what I would call the "Harris Question." Precisely because the case of Roy (born Leroy) Ellsworth Harris (1898-1979) needs arguing, Theodore Kuchar's traversal of Symphonies Nos. 7 and 9, along with the "Epilogue," so called, to JFK's "Profiles in Courage," is welcome. It might seem peculiar that the argument for Harris as a significant creator of symphonies in an American vernacular should be taken up by a Ukrainian ensemble, but Kuchar's National Symphony Orchestra has already documented symphonic repertory by Creston and others. The orchestra is a good one and the conductor has a "feel" for the American sound; Kuchar, I believe, is American-trained. At one time it was a given that Harris was a leading light among American composers. Charles Mills, writing in David Ewen's 1942 symposium "Modern Composers," described Harris as a composer of "solid, block-like tonal combinations in heavily accented rhythms, and more often than not in asymmetrical designs," who in his Symphony No. 3 (1939) had produced a major work of "universal appeal... to musicians and laymen alike." The Third, Mills wrote, was "a sincere and important expression of intrinsic worth and meaning"; Mills went on to quote Serge Koussevitsky as saying that the Third represented "the first truly tragic symphony by an American." It is a fact that the Third quickly acquired and long held the status of the most performed symphony by an American. On the strength of it, moreover, Harris began receiving the commissions that eventually drew from him some thirteen or sixteen symphonies altogether, depending on who does the counting. (And incidentally made him a millionaire.) Yet, apart from the Third, who is familiar with any of Harris' other symphonies? Numbers 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 have been recorded, but remain less known than the symphonies of Schuman, Creston, Mennin, Piston, or Diamond. What is it in the work of these arguably lesser lights (Schuman was once Harris' student) that gives them more appeal posthumously than Harris? The answer is that Schuman's Third or Creston's Second or Mennin's Fifth, like Harris' Third, possesses real "symphonic impetus" or "momentum." Right away, the listener feels swept up in the forward motion of the music. It needs to be stated that, for Harris, "symphonic impetus" did not come naturally. One senses this immediately in Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6 (the latter subtitled "Gettysburg"). There are those impressive sonic "blocks" noted by Mills, but the music never advertises any particular destination, and the movements tend to cut off abruptly (and arbitrarily) rather than reach a convincing climax; the episodes are exciting but they don't add up. Until hearing Kuchar's performance of the Symphony No. 7 (1952, revised 1955), I would have put it under the same description. What Kuchar finds that escaped Eugene Ormandy in his old mono Columbia recording is - exactly - "symphonic impetus" and, so to speak, a "destination." In Kuchar's conception, No. 7 nearly matches No. 3 as Harris' most cogent symphonic score; by making the rhythms more plastic, he propels the music. The bitonal polyphony of chorales and canons, which makes for a superstructure unfolding over the repeated passacaglia theme, becomes, in this new reading, coherent and directed. The stereo sound also contributes to the effect. (Ormandy on Columbia, reissued by Albany, always sounded constricted and tinny to my ears.) We get the muscular "dance symphony" that Harris, in his own description of No. 7, apparently intended. Symphony No. 9, too, benefits by Kuchar's superintendence. A previous, recent recording on Albany under David Alan Miller made an excellent case, but I would laud Kuchar for taking the argument several degrees farther. The music is still more sectional than in No. 7, but Kuchar gives the three movements an overall symphonic "shape" that greatly benefits the whole. These works require a large body of strings with a plush sound, which the Ukrainians deliver. The atmosphere of the recording venue is conducive to the overtones that Harris' depends on for effect when he writes for vibraphone, especially prominent in No. 9. I would hope to hear more of Harris from Kuchar and his players. They would be able to make the case, if any one might, for Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6, the former dedicated to the (then) Soviet People. Recommended.

I have heard only the 3rd and 6th symphonies of Roy Harris prior to receiving this disc as a gift. Roy Harris, for me, has a great sense of elegiac rhythm. His music sounds as if the result of long contemplation, weaving long melodies that are engaging to listen to but are not perhaps memorable in themselves. His music builds, note upon note, into something very moving.

The Seventh Symphony (1952, rev. 1955) is a continual metamorphosis of ideas cast in a single movement. The music begins with the lower strings, progresses to add the upper strings and woodwinds, followed by the brass and tympani, and gradually develops from somber tones to boisterous and dance-like themes; finally become a triumphant blaze at the conclusion.

The Ninth Symphony (1962) was a commission from the Philadelphia Orchestra and each of the three movements bear subtitles from the U.S. Constitution and from the Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (in the three sections of the third movement). The first is titled "We the people," and the second movement has "...to form a more perfect Union. The third movement is broken into three sections, each with their own title: "...to promote the general welfare" (the overall title), "Of life immense in passion, pulse, power" (Part I); "Cheerful for the freest action formed" (Part II); "The Modern Man I Sing" (Part III). Much like the Seventh Symphony, this work proceeds with the orchestra building in a quasi-fugal complexity. The symphony opens with bells and percussion moving on to an interesting rhythm that exudes confidence. The second movement has a beautiful elegiac quality played mainly by the strings. Brass and strings open the third movement, which reminds me of the Third Symphony in scoring. The music becomes more pastoral in mood with a dialogue between the various instruments and the strings. The brass and tympani return in full force and the music returns to that of the first movement.

This CD also includes the Epilogue to Profiles in Courage - JFK, written on the assassination of President Kennedy. It is a moving piece that recalls the President and his ideas rather than giving us a funeral dirge. The strings play with brass and tubular bells, and for a brief time a bass drum quickens the tempo before the music ends quietly.

What I like about Roy Harris' music is the way he uses the orchestra - the long themes that seem to shimmer and have a luminous quality to them. It seems to me like an eloquent person speaking on some subject and making some complex idea clear in a new way. Roy Harris has a voice that needs to be heard and this CD helps a great deal.

I've been generally disappointed by much of Harris' symphonic music after the triumph of his Third Symphony (which remains, after many years, one of my top-ten favorites, right up there with Mozart's 41st and Copland's Third). In these late symphonies, however, he got his act together again and we are presented with the same sonorous long-line -- almost Gregorian -- passages as in the Third, along with brilliant orchestration.

The sound quality is not quite as good as usual on Naxos. Kuchar's conducting seems good to me, but I haven't previously been familiar with these pieces, so I can't be certain of that.

As usual with Naxos -- a genuine bargain.

Excellent budget compilation featuring two of Roy Harris's seldom-performed later symphonies (and one short symphonic poem inspired by the assassination of J.F.K.). For those of you who are unfamiliar with Harris, he's a very appealing composer. His music is populist, rather than avant-garde, yet he takes interesting liberties with musical form that we "longhair" types can readily appreciate. What's more, Harris doesn't shy away from patriotic American themes in his music; his Symphony no. 9, featured here, is based on the poetry of Walt Whitman _and_ the Preamble to the Constitution.

Theodore Kuchar and the Ukrainian Symphony deliver a consistently high-caliber performance for this CD. The program is solid, the sound quality excellent, and the price unbeatable. Naxos American Classics has done it again.

This CD of Roy Harris's later music demonstrates how he developed from the lucid sound world of his popular 3rd Symphony. He inhabits his own sound world in the two symphonies. It's almost a modernist take on Berlioz, with much manipulation of orchestral color in an emotionally dark context. There is no soaring theme, as in the 3rd Symphony, but instead there is a subtle manipulation of motifs and a real sense of drama to the construction. One can hear why a European conductor/composer like Rafael Kubelik was so fond of Harris's music. Indeed, with the Kubelik connection, there is also the reflection that the emotional world of these two symphonies has a lot in common with Martinu's six symphonies. As for the performances, they seem excellent, with much beauty added by the rich Russian sound of the strings. Sound engineering is first-rate. On the whole, this is essential listening for American Music since the Second World War.

The single-movement seventh symphony is a return to the format of the famous third symphony, but it is frankly not on a comparable level with regards to quality. It starts off solemnly which gathers momentum and ends energetically. In Kuchar's hands the beginning is finely characterized and the Ukrainians provides a lush atmosphere, but ut they sound far less assured in the more boisterous later parts.

The Epilogue to Profiles in Courage is forgettable, but the ninth symphony is far more interesting. Kuchar's approach is a little tentative, almost sluggish at times, and the slow movement is perhaps not as songful as it could have been. But this is a fine work, and overall this version is recommendable. The strength of the performance lies in the finale, the by far weakest part of the score, where Kuchar almost manages to convince us that it is inspired rather than banal - but only almost.

The recording is slightly problematic as well, being for the most part a little too close and thus making the music sound a little too noisy at times. Still, this is a worthwhile release for the adventurous.

William Schuman's Sixth Symphony led me to these symphonies of Roy Harris. What I can't understand for the life of me is why more American orchestras don't program these symphonies. I would think any musician or lover of symphonic music would enjoy these neglected symphonies. Sure there are recordings of them and believe me I am thankful for them but when do you ever see these works on the program of a symphony orchestra? Rarely if ever? Most times it is the same 19th and early 20th century works that get played again and again by most symphony orchestras. I would love it if more orchestras would program works like these symphonies of Roy Harris (or Schuman, or David Diamond etc.). They are not that dense. Not compared to some other music from the same time period. I just don't understand why so many mid-20th century American symphonic works toil in obscurity. I would think people who enjoy symphonic music would love to hear one of these symphonies on a program. I know I would. It seems that there is an entire body of American music that is being almost completely and unjustly neglected. It makes me appreciate recordings like these all the more. I wish that more orchestras would play works like these.