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Suite for Symphonic Strings is a suite in nine movements for string orchestra composed by Lou Harrison in 1960. and his earliest important work.

The music
Schoenberg, the 20th-century revolutionary and later inventor of the twelve tone technique, is perhaps best known among audiences for this early tonal work. The piece derives its stylistic lineage from German late-Romanticism. Like his teacher Zemlinsky, Schoenberg was influenced by both Johannes Brahms and Richard Wagner and sought to combine the former's structural logic with the latter's harmonic language, evidenced in the work's rich chromaticism (deriving from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde) and frequent use of musical phrases which serve to undermine the metrical boundaries.

The work comprises five sections which correspond to the structure of the poem on which it is based, with themes in each section being direct musical metaphors for the narrative and discourse found in the poem. As such, the piece is one of the earliest examples of program music written for a chamber ensemble.

The original score calls for two violins, two violas and two cellos. In 1917, Schoenberg produced an arrangement for string orchestra (a common practice at the time), and revised this version in 1943. There is also a version for piano trio by Eduard Steuermann. The string orchestra version is the one most often recorded and performed. The work has also served as the basis for several ballets.

Movements

 * 1) "Estampie" ("Estampio")
 * 2) "Chorale «Et in Arcadia Ego»" ("Koraleo «Ech en Arkadio estas Mi»")
 * 3) "Double Fugue «In Honor of Heracles»" (Fugo Duobla «por Honori Herakles»)
 * 4) "Ductia 'In Honor of Eros'" (Duktio 'por Honori Eroson')
 * 5) "Lament" ("Lamento")
 * 6) "Canonic Variations 'In Honor of Apollo'" (Kanonaj Variajhoj "por Honori Apolonon')
 * 7) "Little Fugue 'Viola's Reward'" (Fugeto 'Rekompenco por Aldoj')
 * 8) "Round 'In Honor of Hermes'" (Rondo 'por Honori Hermeson')
 * 9) "Nocturne" ("Nokturno")

Reception
Early reviewers of the work characterized the work as erratic and occasionally unimaginative. In his review of the premiere performance by Robert Whitney and the Louisville Orchestra for the Louisville Courier-Journal (October 17, 1961), William Mootz notes that “(t)he Suite… is at its best when it is simplest,” but when “Harrison tackles fugues and complex forms, he becomes sterile and meandering, with his ambition finally outdistancing his inspiration.” In his review of the premiere recording by the same ensemble, John Barker writes that while “(t)he quality of the nine movements is varied, … the interest is not always so.” The reviewer of the printed score, Karl Kroeger, suggests that the Preface to the Suite "will be of greater historical importance than the music itself." Time, however, seems to have improved the opinion of the work in the minds of critics, at least to some degree. In his review of Dennis Russell Davies and the American Composers Orchestra's recording of a portion of the Suite for the Argo label, Mellers writes that it is a work "of exceptional power and beauty" and ranks it in importance with his Third Symphony and his Piano Concerto. Yet, even at this later date, critical opinions are not universally glowing. In reviewing the same recording, MacDonald kindly (but less enthusiastically) describes the Suite as “hardly major or characteristic, a pleasant compilation…” and confines his entire discussion of the work to a single sentence.

Premiere
The work was premiered on October 18, 1961 in the Columbia Auditorium by the Louisville Orchestra, Robert Whitney conducting.