Sunday, June 7, 2009

Press-Telegram: “Almost forgotten 'Bicentennial Symphony' will 're-debut' in Long Beach”




[John Malveaux (below); Roy Harris (above)]

On May 22, 2009 AfriClassical posted a press release from John Malveaux: “MusicUNTOLD Orchestra & Chorale Debut in Long Beach at JUNETEENTH Celebration June 13”. Yesterday the Press-Telegram of Long Beach, California published an extensive article by Greg Mellen. It is accompanied by a 4-minute video by Robert Meeks in which John Malveaux recounts the rescue and revival of the Bicentennial Symphony of American composer Roy Harris (1898-1979):

Press-Telegram
Long Beach, California
“Almost forgotten 'Bicentennial Symphony' will 're-debut' in Long Beach at Juneteenth event
Roy Harris' almost-lost piece rescued by friend and music lover John Malveaux”
By Greg Mellen, Staff Writer
Posted: 06/06/09
“LONG BEACH, Calif. -- This is a story about a man, a composer and a quest to bring a mysteriously absent piece of classical music back into the American canon. It is also a love story about one man's attempt to honor the legacy of a friend and artist whom he greatly admired.” “The music is the 'Bicentennial Symphony,' the 13th and last completed symphony of late renowned composer Roy Harris. The piece was commissioned by Cal State L.A. and debuted by the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., on Abraham Lincoln's birthday in 1976 as part of the country's bicentennial celebration. It is a piece that was intentionally controversial. Through much of it a chorus excoriates the racism of this country before and during Lincoln's time, accentuated by angry shouts from singers.”

“The 'Bicentennial Symphony' will be the centerpiece June 13 of the annual Juneteenth Celebration at Martin Luther King Jr. Park.” “In the 33 years since its debut in Washington, there is no record of the symphony ever being played again by any orchestra.” “Until Malveaux paid to have it meticulously reproduced from the original, archived at Cal. State L.A., there were no copies of the score. To Malveaux, who first met Harris in 1977 and later became a close friend of the composer, it's not only mystifying that the symphony disappeared, it's just plain wrong and inexcusable.

As the founder of MusicUNTOLD, a nonprofit group that seeks to increase the awareness of cultural diversity in classical music and opera and promote under-represented music, Malveaux found in Harris' work a cause close to his heart. In recent years, Malveaux has staged programs with music by African-American composer William Grant Still and Mexican composer Carlos Chavez.” “Granted performance and promotional rights to the Harris' work, Malveaux has spent the past decade trying to find an orchestra, any orchestra, to play the symphony. Malveaux has offered the music to 'every major orchestra and many others.'” “Malveaux calls the 'Bicentennial Symphony' 'the strongest musical statement on U.S. history, slavery and race relations ever made by an American composer.'"





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