Jonathan Harvey (composer)

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Jonathan Dean Harvey (3 May 1939 – 4 December 2012)[1][2] was a British composer. He held teaching positions at universities and music conservatories in Europe and the United States.

Life

Harvey was born in Sutton Coldfield, and studied at St John's College, Cambridge, eventually obtaining a PhD.[1] He also took private lessons with Erwin Stein and Hans Keller on the advice of Benjamin Britten.[1] In 1969, he took up a Harkness Fellowship at Princeton University.[1] In the 1980s, Harvey produced music at IRCAM after receiving an invitation from Pierre Boulez to work there.[1]

At IRCAM, Harvey produced works such as Speakings, a composition for large orchestra and electronics, in collaboration with sound artist and composer Gilbert Nouno and researchers Arshia Cont and Grégoire Carpentier. The concept of the piece was to "make an orchestra speak".[3] IRCAM is known for speech analysis and in this piece, special technology was developed to allow the analysis of speech to be realized in an orchestral context, using complex algorithms which can process multiple combinations possible in an orchestra setting. The program Orchidée computed such analyses and provided orchestrations for the composer.[citation needed]

From 2005 to 2008, Harvey held the post of Composer in Association with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.[4]

In 2009, he was Composer in Residence at the

motor neurone disease.[6]

Speakings received six votes in a 2017 Classic Voice poll of the greatest works of art music since 2000.[7] In 2019, writers for The Guardian ranked Harvey's String Quartet No. 4 the eighth greatest work of classical music in the same period.[8]

Writings

Selected works

  • Dialogue and Song for cello and piano (1965/1977)
  • Four Images after Yeats for piano (1969)
  • Piano Trio (1971)
  • I love the Lord, motet (1976)[9][10]
  • String Quartet No. 1 (1977)
  • Cantata: IV: Ludus amoris: for speaker, soprano & tenor soli, SATB, and orchestra (1977),
    OCLC 4183489
  • O Jesu Nomen Dulce for choir (1979)
  • Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco, computer-manipulated concrete sounds (pre-recorded octophonic tape), for tape (1980)
  • Mythic Figures (1980)
  • Bhakti for 15 players and quadrophonic tape (1982)
  • Curve with Plateaux for solo cello (1982)
  • Flight-Elegy for violin and piano (1983–89)
  • Nataraja for flute, piccolo and piano (1983)
  • Nachtlied for soprano, piano and tape (1984)
  • Come Holy Ghost for choir (1984)
  • Ricercare una Melodia for solo trumpet/cello/flute/oboe/trombone with tape delay system (1984)
  • Song Offerings for soprano and chamber ensemble of 8 players (1985)
  • Forms of Emptiness for choir (1986)
  • God is our Refuge for choir and organ (1986)
  • Madonna of Winter and Spring for orchestra, synthesizer and electronics (1986)
  • Lauds for choir and solo cello (1987)
  • From Silence for soprano, 6 players and tape (1988)
  • String Quartet No. 2 (1988)
  • Three Sketches for solo cello (1989)
  • Ritual Melodies for quadrophonic tape (1989–90)
  • Cello Concerto (1990)
  • Fantasia for organ (1991)
  • Serenade in Homage to Mozart for wind ensemble of 10 players (1991)
  • Scena for violin and chamber ensemble of 9 players (1992)
  • Lotuses for flute quartet (1992)
  • You (1992)
  • Chant for solo cello (or solo viola) (1992–94)
  • The Riot for flute, piccolo, bass clarinet and piano (1993)
  • One Evening... for soprano, mezzo, soprano, chamber ensemble of 8 players, 2 technicians and electronics (1993–94)
  • The Angels for choir (1994)
  • Tombeau de Messiaen for piano and tape (1994)
  • Advaya for cello, electronic keyboard and electronics (1994)
  • Dum Transisset Sabbatum for choir (1995)
  • String Quartet No. 3 (1995)
  • Percussion Concerto (1997)
  • Sufi Dance for solo guitar (1997)
  • Wheel of Emptiness for chamber ensemble of 16 players (1997)
  • Ashes Dance Back for choir and electronics (1997)
  • Death of Light/Light of Death for chamber ensemble of 5 players after Grunewald's Crucifixion in the Isenheim Altarpiece (1998)
  • Tranquil Abiding for chamber orchestra (1998)
  • Valley of Aosta for 13 players and electronics (1998)
  • Marahi for unaccompanied choir (1999)
  • The Summer Cloud's Awakening for choir, flute, cello and electronics (2001)
  • Vers for piano (2000)
  • Jubilus for viola and chamber ensemble (2003)
  • String Quartet No. 4 with live electronics (2003)
  • String Trio (2004)
  • Body Mandala for orchestra (2006)
  • Wagner Dream, opera (2007)
  • Speakings for orchestra and electronics (2008)
  • Other Presences for trumpet and electronics (2008)
  • Imaginings for cello and live electronics
  • Philia's Dream for cello and synthesizer
  • Weltethos , an oratorio, for speaker, choir, children's chorus and orchestra (2011), commissioned by the Berlin Philharmonic[11]
  • Cirrus Light for clarinet (2012) 9min[12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Jonathan Harvey", Faber Music
  2. ^ Richard Morrison (5 December 2012). "British Composer Jonathan Harvey Dies". The Times. Retrieved 5 December 2012.
  3. ^ Bob Shingleton (5 September 2010). "Chance Music with Jonathan Harvey". Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
  4. ^ Jonathan Harvey, composer's biography
  5. ^ Composer in Residence Jonathan Harvey in conversation Archived 14 November 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival
  6. ^ Hewett, Ivan (5 December 2012). Jonathan Harvey obituary. The Guardian.
  7. ^ "A music referendum". Ricordi. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
  8. ^ Clements, Andrew; Maddocks, Fiona; Lewis, John; Molleson, Kate; Service, Tom; Jeal, Erica; Ashley, Tim (12 September 2019). "The best classical music works of the 21st century". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  9. YouTube, Choir of Royal Holloway
    , 2014
  10. ^ "I love the Lord", performances, recordings, classicalarchives.com
  11. ^ See the information on the site of the digital concert hall. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  12. ^ See Programme note at Faber Music. Retrieved 24 October 2023.

Further reading

External links