The notes, descriptive but
not at all technical, are by David Prieser.
They are in English only. The font, a slender
courier, is standard across booklet and cover.
Nomadic Harris and institutional
Turk, Schuman, found a compulsive stimulus
in the symphonic form. Schuman wrote ten and
Harris thirteen. In both cases you can dock
the first two - each of which was withdrawn
though there seems to have been a revival
of Harris 2 in recent times. Both Harris's
and Schuman's Third represent their popular
chef d'oeuvre. Both are superb works and in
both cases Bernstein's first NYPO recordings
are market leaders on SONY. The Harris Third
was given its premiere recording by Koussevitky
and the Bostonians. This kept the work alive
notably on the RCA Victrola LP label.
Beyond these two works Harris's
Seventh is his next strongest piece (I would
rate it above the Third). The mono recording
of Ormandy conducting the Seventh with the
Philadelphia Orchestra remains the reference
point. It is now conveniently available on
the Albany USA label. This is a performance
of luminous sonority with a brusque tread
and epic jawset. Beside it Keelan and the
New Zealander sound almost careful and deliberate.
Their strengths are in the transparency and
subtlety of the recording and the brass work
is imperious. In the Schuman everyone seems
much more confident and fluent. This is a
tougher work. It is much more vitally under
the skin of orchestra and conductor than the
Harris.
Full marks to Koch for recording
these two works however the disc plays for
less than 50 minutes. I would have welcomed
at least one filler, perhaps Roy Harris's
Second, Fifth, Eleventh or Thirteenth. Good
banding decisions by Koch leave us with these
two single span symphonies subdivided (purely
for listener convenience) into four and six
tracks for Harris and Schuman respectively.
Rob Barnett
