A Sixth for John Harbison

A Sixth for John Harbison
The New Year is always a time for a fresh beginning and the beginning of 2012 will be no exception for composer John Harbison. The Boston Symphony Orchestra will premiere his Sixth Symphony with mezzo-soprano Paula Murrihy and conductor David Zinman on January 12, 2012. This performance marks the culmination of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s two-season cycle of the composer’s symphonies – a rare occurrence for an active composer.

Harbison’s first four symphonies adhere to the standard orchestra complement, but in his Fifth Symphony he included mezzo-soprano, baritone and electric guitar to the mix. Harbison completed much of his early sketches for the Sixth Symphony when he realised he "was haunted by a missing sonority, a granulated, silvery sound; mysterious, even ominous; a punctuation for the end of the large paragraphs". Thus he carries on with the mezzo-soprano and adds a vital cimbalom: this enigmatic dulcimer found its way into the scores of many masters including Boulez, Dutilleux and Kurtag. Harbison’s latest work features the instrument in a brief but crucial moment in the narrative.

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