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- John Harbison
Symphony No. 3 (1990)
- Associated Music Publishers Inc (World)
- 3(pic).3(ca).3(bcl).3(cbn)/4.3.3.1/timp.4perc/pf/str
- 24 min
Programme Note
Composer Note:
Symphony no. 3 was composed for the Baltimore Symphony and its conductor David Zinman. It is dedicated to the orchestra's former Composer in Residence Christopher Rouse.
David Zinman and the orchestra have splendidly performed my first two symphonies, and the first thoughts for this one came while I was in Baltimore for the Second Symphony (the commission for a new piece had already been discussed). Among the first musical images were a carillon melody associated with the church of San Ilario, near Genoa, a long violin line with percussion accompaniment, and a drum pattern I associated with the Baltimore swing era hero, Chick Webb. The focus on percussion led naturally to the dedication to Chris Rouse, from whom I have learned much on these and other matters.
The piece is a continuous progression of temperamental movements each of which necessitates the next, and for whom the following designations were found: Disconsolate, Nostalgic, Militant, Passionate, and Exuberant.
I hope the conductor and the players find these adjectives helpful, but the listener may prefer to focus on a more fluid psycological progression, with its momentary victories and defeats, and its release at the end. As with my first two symphones, the piece got its title only after other avenues were explored. It is not Five Pieces because these follow out of each other and refer to each other. It is not a Suite because their is no stylization, or clear connection to the dance. It is a symphony in the late twentieth century sense, a music requiring space, a certain sonorous latitude, and existing in the foreground. In something over twenty minutes it wants, after its span, to inhabit like minds, spirits and bodies, perhaps at moments when they least expect, thus confirming that it needed to be expressed as music and not something else.
— John Harbison
Symphony no. 3 was composed for the Baltimore Symphony and its conductor David Zinman. It is dedicated to the orchestra's former Composer in Residence Christopher Rouse.
David Zinman and the orchestra have splendidly performed my first two symphonies, and the first thoughts for this one came while I was in Baltimore for the Second Symphony (the commission for a new piece had already been discussed). Among the first musical images were a carillon melody associated with the church of San Ilario, near Genoa, a long violin line with percussion accompaniment, and a drum pattern I associated with the Baltimore swing era hero, Chick Webb. The focus on percussion led naturally to the dedication to Chris Rouse, from whom I have learned much on these and other matters.
The piece is a continuous progression of temperamental movements each of which necessitates the next, and for whom the following designations were found: Disconsolate, Nostalgic, Militant, Passionate, and Exuberant.
I hope the conductor and the players find these adjectives helpful, but the listener may prefer to focus on a more fluid psycological progression, with its momentary victories and defeats, and its release at the end. As with my first two symphones, the piece got its title only after other avenues were explored. It is not Five Pieces because these follow out of each other and refer to each other. It is not a Suite because their is no stylization, or clear connection to the dance. It is a symphony in the late twentieth century sense, a music requiring space, a certain sonorous latitude, and existing in the foreground. In something over twenty minutes it wants, after its span, to inhabit like minds, spirits and bodies, perhaps at moments when they least expect, thus confirming that it needed to be expressed as music and not something else.
— John Harbison
Media
Symphony No. 3: Sconsolato
Symphony No. 3: Nostalgico
Symphony No. 3: Militante
Symphony No. 3: Appassionata
Symphony No. 3: Esuberante
Scores
Reviews
Sunday at Sanders Theatre, Zander embraced [Harbison's third symphony]. . . . what clarity and ferocity! . . . This performance . . . was demonic in its nervous intensity, but never driven. It made a good case for Harbison’s elaborate orchestration.
24th October 2017
Harbison’s fascinating, dense music, and Symphony No. 3 absolutely must be experienced live, ideally in a hall such as Sanders that allows all the complex flavors and timbres space to be heard.
20th October 2017
Harbison's THIRD SYMPHONY packs a real wallop. Here is introspective end-of-the-millennium American music as powerful and expressive as any around. No wonder David Alan Miller calls Harbison "the dean of American composers."
The work began with a dramatic descending figure, a musical trip down Armageddon hill that gradually disperses. Lyric wind melodies were absorbed and transmogrified into spooky, wonderfully orchestrated sections. A section with bells, literal and figurative, changed the mood only briefly. Harbison rewrote the finale to make it more uplifting, but as in a Fuseli painting of the elfin world, danger still lurks in the woods.
Every note of this symphony invites rehearing and personal analysis. It may be an American masterpiece.
Discography
- LabelAlbany
- Catalogue Number390
- ConductorDavid Alan Miller
- EnsembleAlbany Symphony Orchestra
- LabelOehms
- Catalogue Number507
- ConductorJames Levine
- EnsembleMunich Philharmonic Orchestra
