Jonathan Harvey

born in Warwickshire in 1939, he was a chorister at St Michael’s College, Tenbury and later a major music scholar at St John’s College, Cambridge. He gained doctorates from the universities of Glasgow and Cambridge and also studied privately (on the advice of Benjamin Britten) with Erwin Stein and Hans Keller. He was a Harkness Fellow at Princeton (1969–70).
An invitation from Boulez to work at ircam in the early 1980s has resulted in eight realisations at the Institute, or for the Ensemble InterContemporain, including the tape piece Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco; Ritual Melodies for computer-manipulated sounds, and Advaya for cello and live and pre-recorded sounds. Harvey has also composed for most other genres: orchestra (including Madonna of Winter and Spring, Tranquil Abiding and White as Jasmine), chamber (including three String Quartets, Soleil Noir/Chitra, and Death of Light, Light of Death) as well as works for solo instruments. He has produced a large output of choral works, including the large cantata with electronics Mothers Shall Not Cry (2000). His church opera Passion and Resurrection (l981) was the subject of a bbc television film, and has received twelve subsequent performances. His opera Inquest of Love, commissioned by the English National Opera, was premiered there in 1993 and repeated at ThéČtre de la Monnaie in Brussels in 1994.
Harvey now attracts commissions from many international organizations. His music has been extensively played and toured by, amongst others, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble InterContemporain, and Ictus Ensemble of Brussels. About 50 recordings are available on cd. He is regularly performed at all the major international contemporary music festivals, and is one of the most skilled and imaginative composers working in electronic music. He has honorary doctorates from the universities of Southampton and Bristol, is a Member of Academia Europaea, and in 1993 was awarded the prestigious Britten Award for composition. He was Visiting Professor of Music at Imperial College, London and is Honorary Professor at Sussex University.
In 1999 he published two books: In Quest of Spirit and Music and Inspirations. Arnold Whittall’s study of his music appeared in the same year (published by Faber & Faber, and in French by ircam). Two years later John Palmer published a substantial study: Jonathan Harvey’s Bhakti (Edwin Mellen Press).

Selected works: Little Concerto for Strings (1967/1997), Smiling Immortal for chamber ensemble and cd (1977), Inner Light 2 for two sopranos, alto, tenor, bass, instrumental ensemble and tape adat (1977), String Quartet No. 1 (1977), Magnificat & Nunc Dominis for double mixed choir and organ (1978, version for double mixed choir and ensemble – 1978/2002), Album, seven miniatures for wind quintet (1978), Be(com)ing for clarinet and piano (1979), Hymn for mixed choir and orchestra (1979), Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco for quadrophonic tape (1980), Passion and Resurrection, church opera in twelve scenes (1981), Whom Ye Adore for orchestra (1981), Resurrection for double mixed choir and organ (1982), Bhakti for chamber ensemble and quadrophonic tape (1982), Curve with Plateaux for solo cello (1982), Easter Orisons for chamber orchestra (1983), The Path of Devotion for mixed choir and small orchestra (1983), Gong-Ring for chamber ensemble and electronics (1984), Nachtlied for soprano, piano and cd (1984), Ricercare una melodia for cello and electronics (1984, also version for oboe and electronics, flute and electronics and trumpet and electronics), Song Offerings for soprano, flute, clarinet, piano and string quintet (1985), Madonna of Winter and Spring for orchestra, synthesizers and electronics (1986), Forms of Emptiness for unaccompanied mixed chorus (1986), Lightness and Weight for tuba and orchestra (1987), Timepieces for orchestra with two conductors (1987), Lauds for mixed choir and organ (1987), Valley of Aosta for instrumental ensemble and electronics (1988), String Quartet No. 2 (1988), From Silence for soprano, six instruments and tape (1988), Ritual Melodies for quadrophonic tape (1989–90), Cello Concerto (1990), Fan-tasia for organ (1991), Inquest of Love, opera in two acts (1991–92), Lotuses for flute quartet (1992), Scena for violin and chamber ensemble (1992), One Evening... for soprano, mezzo-soprano, chamber ensemble and electronics (1993–94), Tombeau de Messiaen for piano and tape (1994), Advaya for cello, electronic keyboard and electronics (1994), Soleil noir/Chitra for chamber ensemble and electronics (1994–95), String Quartet No. 3 (1995), Missa brevis for unaccompanied chorus (1995), Ashes Dance Back for choir and electronics (1997), Wheel of Emptiness for chamber ensemble (1997), Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra (1997), Death of Light, Light of Death for oboe, harp, violin, viola and cello (1998), Tranquil Abiding for chamber orchestra (1998), Calling Across Time for chamber orchestra (1998), White as Jasmine for soprano and large orchestra (1999), Mothers Shall Not Cry for soprano and tenor soloists, female choirs, orchestra and electronics (2000), Vers for piano (2000), The Summer Cloud’s Awakening for mixed choir, flute, cello and electronics (2001), Bird Concerto with Pianosong for piano, chamber orchestra and live electronics (2001), Mythic Figures for tape (2001), Chu for soprano, clarinet and cello (2002), Moving Trees for chamber ensemble (2002), Song of Li Po for mezzo-soprano
and chamber orchestra (2002), String Quartet No. 4 for string quartet and electronics (2003).

Tranquil Abiding is a Buddhist term for a state of single-pointed concentration. This piece is a 14-minute movement based throughout on a single, slow breathing rhythm. The rhythm consists of an ‘inhalation’ on an upper note followed by an ‘exhalation’ on a lower one. There are melodic fragments above it: one using only one pitch, another three pitches, another five pitches, another eight pitches and a fifth fifteen pitches.
It is scored for small orchestra and was commissioned jointly by Riverside Symphony and Bournemouth Orchestras as the result, respectively, of a Koussevitsky award and funds provided by the Arts Council of England.