Strongly influenced by his native Oklahoma, Roy Harris studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger, returning to America to establish himself as one of the leading composers of his generation. The backbone of his output is the series of thirteen symphonies, which span his career from 1933 to 1976. Described by the conductor, Serge Koussevitzky, as ‘the first great symphony by an American composer’, Symphony No. 3 is remarkable for its broad, sweeping melodies evoking vast landscapes, and for its affecting fusion of plainsong, Renaissance polyphony, hymnody and folk song. In Symphony No. 4 ‘Folk Song Symphony’, Harris draws on an eclectic mix of folk material from a variety of regional and ethnic roots that include cowboy songs, frontier ballads, spirituals and marching songs. This is the first release of a projected Naxos cycle of the thirteen Roy Harris orchestral symphonies.