Harold Brown, 1936

Biography by Sigmund Rosen
Addendum on performance and recording history

Ned Rorem's appreciation of Harold's compositions and mentoring, an excerpt from his 1994 Memoir Knowing When to Stop.

Related Reading:

Pied Piper: The Many Lives of Noah Greenberg, by James Gollin, contains crucial details about Harold.

Pianist: A Biography of Eugene Istomin by James Gollin contains the clearest exposition of Harold’s esthetic, and influence on Istomin’s work. Also his personality quirks.

“Noah Greenberg and the New York Pro Musica: The Career, Reception, and Impact”, a thesis (2004) by Eriko Aoyama, tells how Noah Greenberg and his mentor Harold Brown worked together.

Radical Son: A Generational Odyssey, by David Horowitz, nephew of Harold Brown, offers one view of his and Harold’s family politics.

More Pictures of Harold
Click here for pictures of Harold sent by Lyssa Blair.

Harold Brown Centennial
Click here for a full description of the Centennial held from October 30 to November 1, 2009, with links to pictures and sound files.

Harold Brown

Although we knew Harold Brown as a pioneer in bringing early music to North America, we did not know about the considerable body of original work he composed – music rarely played and never recorded – that his close associates, students and colleagues insist we hear and share with a larger audience.

The Association has accepted the mandate to begin bringing Brown’s original musical compositions to the public. We consider it an honor to do so. Recording a CD of some of his chamber music began in May, 2011.

Well before founding the Renaissance Chorus and having completed his musical studies at Columbia University and with Nadia Boulanger in Paris, Harold Brown was composing music for strings during the 1930s and ’40s. These compositions represent youthful, passionate writing for strings in a modal idiom with influences of Stravinsky and his era, as well as of viol music from the Renaissance. Ned Rorem says, in his 1994 book, Knowing When to Stop: a Memoir, “Harold’s pieces purvey a mysterious appeal (and a solid scaffolding) that I’ve never seen or heard since.” He also notes that Harold’s “not playing the game which is part of the rat race” deprived America’s music lovers of his music. With this project, we hope to rectify this loss.

We have obtained funding

Tessera Quartet

Louise Schulman

to begin the CD recording of Brown’s chamber music, starting with his Bearns Prize winning 1930 String Quartet, his 1932 String Quartet and his 1935 String Quintet (with two violas). We are delighted to have in performance the Tessera Quartet — Emily Daggett Smith, violin; Karen Ouzounian, cello; Edward Klorman, viola; and Cordelia Paw, violin — with guest violist Louise Schulman, all of whom have been associated with Juilliard School of Music. Producer/engineer for the recording is Grammy Award winning Marc Aubort. Recording is by ALBANY Records, specializing in American contemporary music, which has obtained a coveted Aaron Copland Fund Grant as seed money for this project. Another $2,786 raised through Kickstarter along with generous contributions from many others, including Harold’s family and former Renaissance Chorus members, and a $1,000 grant from the Barbara Bell Cumming Foundation, help greatly to make the project a resounding success.

Project engineer Marc Aubort receives Fellowship Award from Audio Engineering Society for “a long career of excellence in the recording arts” October 20, 2011

Here are samples of the music for the CD,
from the Demo Disk sent to the Copland Fund:
String Quartet (1932) Part I Beginning
String Quartet Part II Beginning
String Quintet (1935) Part I Beginning
String Quintet Part II from [B] to [K]
String Quintet Part III from [D] to end

Click here for Pictures from the Recording Session

The work of Harold Brown, gifted composer of chamber and orchestral music, needs to be out there among the recordings of his peers. Clearly interesting to students of early 20th century classical music, it will be heartily enjoyed by a much wider audience as well. We will bring Brown’s passionate music to the attention of this and future generations.

Contributions are still needed to bring this project to completion! See "Contribute" on our Home page.