Harris: Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6 / Acceleration

Roy Harris made an indelible mark on
American orchestral music, enlivening
Old World symphonic traditions with
New World individualism. Amid the
background of war in Europe, he
crafted his Fifth and Sixth 'the heroic and
freedom-loving people of our great ally,
the Union of Soviet Republics', the
latter, subtitled Gettysburg, to 'the
Armed Forces of Our Nation'. The
single-movement Acceleration was later
reworked within the Sixth Symphony.
In each piece, Harris's nationalistic
fervour is underpinned by an abiding
faith in the ability of the human spirit
to triumph through adversity.