Jonathan Harvey (1939-2012)

[petrarch]

I've pretty much heard all of Nono's legacy. Nono certainly wasn't 'equally at home' as composer Julian Anderson is meaning .. certainly not to the extent, success, consistency & depth of Harvey's legacy at all.. who, while being one of the masters within electronic media .. also has a body of works for church choir which are in the repertoire and in daily liturgical use. So that fluent versatility in composing for a wide range of media, all the way from the cathedral to the electronic studio and back and sometimes both at once (i.e. Mortuos Plango, as one example), while always retaining his integrity, retaining his personality, being himself .. not compromising.

I understood exactly what Anderson was saying and I admit, I was baiting to elicit that kind of response, especially with "Nono" and "cathedral" in the same sentence . Looks like your understanding of Nono isn't as deep as you think it is.

[petrarch]

Does Nono have a body of liturgical work to match Harvey?

Haven't you heard all of Nono's legacy? Unless we have different definitions of legacy.

[petrarch]

Most of it, and baiting & childish internet games aside .. the serious answer to my question is simply no.

Indeed it is no; my point was very simply that just asking the question suggests a lack of understanding of Nono.

But we're on a Harvey thread. As I said elsewhere, I truly wish he was more italian and less british.

[San Antone]

I'm not sure if all these works have been mentioned ~

Towards a Pure Land (2005)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uyz5RQmX-Bg

Sringara Chaconne (2008)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mcm_61UdM08

Death of Light / Light of Death

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SCdIT-BTwA

Advaya for cello and electronics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oUSgXGbuHU

[Mandryka]

I listened to the second quartet (1988) in the Arditti box. The form seems simple: two styles of music battle it out.

Calm, consoling and possibly tonal music (like Szymanowski maybe) emerges out of aggressive and unsettled, tonally ambiguous, polyphonically complex, music (like Ferneyhough maybe.) What is Harvey saying about the world here? That, contrary to initial appearances, God has not totally disappeared?

At the end there is a synthesis between the turbulent/complex style music and the consoling/spiritual/complex style music. It is very very interesting.

I also listened to the cello concerto (1990), but less closely. Similar things seem to be going on.

[aligreto]

I have just found this thread. The only work of his that I own is his wonderful Guitar Concerto....





A lot more to explore here obviously.

[ritter]

I have just found this thread. The only work of his that I own is his wonderful Guitar Concerto....





A lot more to explore here obviously.

That one is by another Harvey (Richard, not Jonathan). Don't expect anything like this Concerto antico in Jonathan's output  .

So you get an idea, this is one of Jonathan's most celebrated pieces:

https://www.youtube.com/v/6UJ2RXIEXa4

[aligreto]

That one is by another Harvey (Richard, not Jonathan). Don't expect anything like this Concerto antico in Jonathan output  .

So you get an idea, this is one of Jonathan's most celebrated pieces:

https://www.youtube.com/v/6UJ2RXIEXa4

Oh dear, what an error. 
Thank you for being very gracious and I appreciate the clip 

[snyprrr]

Oh dear, what an error. 
Thank you for being very gracious and I appreciate the clip 

hate when that happens ..

[aligreto]

hate when that happens ..

Yep, call it a senior moment....  

[Mandryka]

I love Harvey's work, it's distinctively him but there are an array of influences or different elements, of which I love 
'picked up the scores for Bhakti and Valley Of Aosta at the Library (I know, I can't stop getting stuff out  ), such marvelous works.

He's a composer I can safely say I Love but aren't as well acquainted yet, as I'd hope 

That opera about Buddha really hard, is it kitsch?  I find it cringeworthy. I remember Bhakti's OK.

[schnittkease]

Not much to say, other than this is an underrated composer. Just heard Speakings—it's quiet accessible music, and I have no idea why Harvey's works aren't more popular.

[André]

I like the works on this disc very much:



And then I have this, which I don't like as much (electronics do nothing for me):

[Iota]

I listened to the second quartet (1988) in the Arditti box. The form seems simple: two styles of music battle it out.

Calm, consoling and possibly tonal music (like Szymanowski maybe) emerges out of aggressive and unsettled, tonally ambiguous, polyphonically complex, music (like Ferneyhough maybe.) What is Harvey saying about the world here? That, contrary to initial appearances, God has not totally disappeared?

At the end there is a synthesis between the turbulent/complex style music and the consoling/spiritual/complex style music. It is very very interesting.

I also listened to the cello concerto (1990), but less closely. Similar things seem to be going on.

What a lovely thing the 2nd quartet is! A happy discovery for me today! I like your description, and what an elegantly and vividly crafted piece it is. I've heard some JH before but it didn't really register with much impact. Maybe his time has come for me, will revisit with whetted appetite!

Many thanks to schnittkease for reviving the thread!

[Mandryka]

https://www.youtube.com/v/ZmCBDNT5KP8

Very much enjoying Nachtlied, settings of three poems including the one everyone knows by Goethe.  What it shows, I think, is that at this time of his life at least, Harvey was a great melodist.

[Mandryka]

What a lovely thing the 2nd quartet is!

And the 1st, which I listened to this morning with great pleasure.

[Mandryka]

I'm having a Harvey afternoon, centred on From Silence on this CD. He really did write expressive music, which jolts you out of your comfort zone. Deep in the sense of polyphonic and melodic, the more you penetrate the more music you find in the layers. How much richer avant garde polyphony is compared with baroque, and even renaissance music - relatively unconstrained both in terms of harmony and sonority (Harvey used electronic sounds), the payoff is a huge gain in significance. Such a shame that Bach and Josquin were born before their time.

It's extraordinary how much avant garde music is in some broad sense spiritual in intent - the composer wants to make you share through his music a vision he's had about the human condition. Harvey certainly, Klaus Huber too. It's as if precisely at the time when mystical thinking was waning in the general population in Europe (the past 50 years), it was growing amongst composers.