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Date: | Fri, 9 May 2003 22:30:09 -0700 |
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In my files, I have copied the following sly comment on Roy Harris.
I forget who it is by. I find it a little TOO dismissive, but with
an undeniable kernel of sense.
"Disc 4 starts with music by Roy Harris, whom Copland displaced,
although Roy never stopped wrapping himself and his music in the
flag. Before his death in 1979 he had composed 15 or so symphonies,
three of which (Nos. 3, 5 and 7) inhabit the perimeter of the
repertoire. The best known and arguably the best written, albeit
flawed, is the single-movement Third, which Bernstein recorded
twice with the NYP, but conducted with greater urgency in 1957---a
performance preserved here. LB couldnt -- nobody ever could --
make it move inevitably toward a destination; Harris always spun
his wheels. But the procession of gestures in this Third Symphony
are handsome counterfeits of forward motion."
Jon Gallant
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