jonathan harvey

I think his purely instrumental music turns out to be disappointingly ordinary, sometimes. On the other hand, I heard a live performance of a choral piece, replete with bizarre animal noises, that was absolutely stunning. Let's see if I can come up with the title through Google... yup: Marahi. Apparently much of his choral music (but certainly not this piece!) is in a much more conservative style than he's otherwise known for.

Still, I'm not sure he ever topped his relatively early, electronics-only piece Mortuous Plango, Vivos Voco. Hard to believe it was essentially his first venture into electronic media. The technical premises of the piece are simple -- exploring the sonic space between two sounds, a boy soprano and a struck bell -- but the transformations and hybridizations of these sounds are absolutely gut-wrenching (especially one aggressively shuffled vocal sequence about 3/4 of the way through, which is violent and beautiful).

There's an microtonal improv duo record with Frances-Marie Uitti, her on cello him on FM synth called 'Imaginings' that I remember liking but only got to it twice, will listen to it again. And that's all I've heard.

Definitely want to check out 'Mortuous Plango, Vivos Voco'. It's on one of those Wergo Computer Music Classics discs, right?

(my CD of bhakti is on montaigne and not on NMC, btw)

i've heard of a messiaen-ish undercurrent of catholicism (or church of england?) in his work but yeah, thanks for the recommendations...I know, but not heard of '...vivos voco'.

Harvey certainly has a strong religious/spiritual bent. Like Messiaen, he has an interest in Eastern arts and religion. I don't know if he further parallels Messiaen by aligning himself with Catholicism (or another mainstream branch of Christianity), or whether he's more of a religious eclectic. I doubt my own lack of interest in religion has much to do with my only-selective interest in his music.

He wrote a thesis (dissertation?) on the subject of inspiration in music; it was later adapted and published as a book. I leafed through that once and didn't find it terribly intersting, for what it's worth. Oh, I just remembered that he also wrote a book in the mid 1970s on the music of Stockhausen; haven't looked at it in a long time and it's obviously out-of-date now!

(Julio - I wasn't disputing your description of Bhakti, really; I just don't remember it clearly except for some aspects of its opening.)

CDeMusic has the Currents, volume 5. I'm leaning towards getting that, as that series has a high hit to miss ration, but how are the other pieces on the Erato?

(I didn't say you were disputing anything, btw, just pointing out that you recalled its opening moments correctly and that you weren't thinking of a diff piece) xp

In case, like me, you happen to be off work or on holiday this Friday:

Electronics and Harvey

Neil Heyde, Paul Archbold and Chris Redgate explore Jonathan Harvey’s ‘Advaya’ for cello, electronic keyboard and electronics and ‘Ricercare una melodia’ for oboe and electronics in open rehearsal with the composer. The participants will examine the technical and interpretative aspects of the works and set these important pieces in context.

RIP

Yes, very sad news. There's an obituary in the Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/dec/05/jonathan-harvey-dies-73-composer

He died from motor neurone disease (ALS or something closely related), as did Stefano Scodanibbio earlier this year. I'm a bit obsessive about this detail because I've been battling the same disease for about four years. This is probably a strange place to bury such a personal confession, but I suppose the folks who know me best at ILM are the ones who read threads like this. Anyway, I'm doing okay and am certainly not going to start my own ILE Thread of Misery because it's too much work keep it going. I type with an on-screen keyboard and a mouse button positioned under my stronger hand, or with speech recognition software (which is increasingly inaccurate as my voice deteriorates).

Anyway, back on topic. While this thread sat dormant for three years, Harvey's discography really blossomed. I haven't heard much of anything recent and would love recommendations…

:-(

How strange - today I was listening to a Radio 3 podcast on Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco.

I haven't heard any of his new recordings. Need to investigate.

(And hi again Paul (its Julio) - was thinking of you and wondering where you were when Elliott Carter passed away a few weeks ago. My best wishes, as always.)

Hi Julio, thanks for the good wishes. Carter was my number one hero, but I had already said that several times and couldn't think of what else to say when he died. He lived to such old age that it seemed like we all got bonus years; what was there to mourn?

You're right actually.

Here's a selection of Harvey's recent recordings. Not necessarily complete. I'm sure there are more works mixed in on recital CDs featuring music by multiple composers.

Death of Light/Light of Death. Advaya. Ricercare una melodia (two versions). Tombeau de Messiaen. Wheel of Emptiness
perf: Ictus / Georges-Elie Octors
Cyprès CYP5604 (77' · DDD)

Madonna of Winter and Spring. Percussion ­Concerto. Song Offerings
perf: Penelope Walmsley-Clark (sop) Peter Prommel (perc) Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra / Peter Eötvös; London Sinfonietta / George Benjamin
Nimbus NI5649 (78' · DDD)

Scena. Jubilus. Speakings
perf: Elizabeth Layton (vn) Scott Dickinson (va) BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / Ilan Volkov
Aeon AECD1090 (55’ · DDD)

Tranquil Abiding. Body Mandala. Timepieces. White as Jasmine. …towards a Pure Land
perf: Anu Komsi (sop) BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / Ilan Volkov, Stefan Solymon
NMC NMCD141 (80’ · DDD)

Choral Works – The Angels. Ashes Dance Back. Marahi. The Summer Cloud’s Awakening
perf: Jonathan Harvey, Carl Faia (elec) Clive Williamson (synth) Ilona Meija (fl) Arne Deforce (vc) Latvian Radio Choir / Kaspars Putniņš; James Wood
Hyperion CDA67835 (64’ · DDD)

Complete String Quartets & Trio
perf: Arditti String Quartet
2009 Aeon

Wagner Dream
perf: Ictus Ensemble, Martyn Brabbins, Claire Booth, Gordon Gietz
2012 Cypres

hmm...Wagner Dream. Like the title.