Putney Composer To Release His Debut Symphony

Marc Harris's Shifting Sands is performed by the Northern Film Orchestra


Marc Harris

Participate

Sign up for our weekly Putney newsletter

Comment on this story on the

Putney born and bred composer Marc Harris is releasing his debut Symphony, 'Shifting Sands' later this month.

It is performed by the Northern Film Orchestra and will be available from 25 March.

Marc began working on the Symphony in Putney in 2020 during the first lockdown, when his travel company collapsed. The destruction of Marc’s previously thriving travel business provided him with the time and space to explore writing classical music for the first time having previously been a blues pianist.

Whilst travel was halted, Marc used ‘Shifting Sands’ as a vessel to return to some of the world’s most enchanting locations once again, and as such the symphony aims to conjure up visions of the wild steppes of Asia, the rainforests of Central and South America, and the shifting sands of Arabia.

Most of Marc’s adult life has been dedicated his tour operating business to some of the most wonderful and obscure parts of the world. Prior to collapse of the firm, Marc hadn’t written a note in his life and he feels strongly that it represents what can be achieved with the right degree of tenacity and the right teacher to guide and encourage.

He says Shifting Sands draws on a wide range of classical influences including Mozart (Confutatis from the Requiem), Stravinsky (The Rite of Spring) , Mussorgsky (Night on a Bare Mountain), Rimsky-Korsakov (Scheherazade), Holst (Mars and Mercury), Dukas (the Sorcerer’s Apprentice), Prokofiev (Montagues and Capulets from Romeo and Juliet) as well as popular influences such as John Williams (Star Wars), Pink Floyd (The Wall), King Crimson (Moonchild), and film music such as Midnight Express, Gladiator and Lawrence of Arabia.

The text for the score is written in Latin, for which Marc recruited a scholar to ensure the utmost accuracy.

You can listen to Shifting Sands here.

Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More

This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism.

Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets.

We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more.

However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do.

We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area.

A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site.

One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute.

If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor.

For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site.

 

March 18, 2022