Harvey found writing for a Cathedral-type choir liberating, as it allowed him to contribute to worship and forget about personal ambition.
Composer Biography
Jonathan Harvey was among the composers who led the way in electro-acoustic music, with works like Toccata for organ and pre-recorded tape.
Composition History
The work Laus Deo was composed in a single night after Jonathan Harvey had a vivid dream of a shimmering angel playing an organ, which formed the main substance of the piece.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Jonathan Harvey's Missa Brevis uses numerology in the Sanctus, with a six-part chord representing the six-winged Seraphim surrounding God's throne, and all 12 pitch classes representing heaven and earth full of God's glory.
Composer Biography
Jonathan Harvey, the composer, began his experience of church music as a chorister at St Michael's College, Tenbury, where he sang 13 services each week.
Composer's Artistic Vision
The composer Jonathan Harvey considered suffering encountered in art or ritual to be healing, and believed the theme of suffering and healing was his most common source of musical inspiration.
Compositional Technique
Harvey's Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, settings of the Evening Canticles, employ vocal techniques such as whispering, glissandi, aleatoric writing, shouting, pitched speech, and percussive effects.
You might also enjoy...
... The Flowers Have Their Angels
Eventide
Lyrically
Hole in the Sky
Penderecki: Choral Works, Vol. 2
Beyond All Mortal Dreams – American A Cappella Choral Works
