Search - Harrison, Davies :: Third Symphony

Lou Harrison: A Great American Composer

millionrainbows | 02/27/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a beautiful, lyrical symphony, never bombastic, always full of love from a sweet, gentle soul. Lou Harrison is my secret treasure in classical music. I understand his love of things oriental, exotic, and modal. He improvises great flights of fancy with his orchestra.

For some, the music may not modulate enough, or be decisive enough, or bombastic enough. For me, it is what I would write if I could. It provides a centered, relaxing, yet always engaging sanctuary from stress and the slings and arrows.

Lou Harrison had a beautiful soul, I just know it. Get this. Enjoy."

Of what Was and Is: Harrison's Third Symphony

John H. Doran | Denver, CO USA | 02/05/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I agree with millionrainbows: Lou Harrison's Third is a wonderful work, and I highly recommend it. Still, I must relate a somewhat sad personal story concerning it.



I first heard this music on an NPR broadcast back in 1982, performed by Davies and the Cabrillo Music Festival Orchestra--the same folks, in fact, who have recorded it here. That broadcast might well have been the premiere performance, and I thank God that I thought to turn on my tape recorder!



Here's why: It turns out that Harrison has revised his symphony many times over the years; practically until the day he died in 2003. The present recording is of a version many revisions newer than the one I heard on the radio.



The final Allegro, in particular, has changed drastically; and much of my favorite material--music that seems to resonate with my soul and move me to tears whenever I hear it--has vanished from the score...

"