I've just been catching up with Music Matters this week and I'm shocked to discover that Jonathan Harvey, one of modern music's great composers,has died of motor neurone disease, with which he had been living for some time.
The MM tribute runs ..
"Jonathan Harvey died earlier this week, at the age of 73, after suffering a long and terminal illness of the nervous system.
It was an invitation by Pierre Boulez to work at IRCAM in the early 1980’s that shaped and characterised Harvey’s music and career – fusing electronics with acoustic instruments as he explored new sound worlds. This can be heard in pieces like the orchestral triptych - Body Mandala (2006), …towards a pure land (2005) & Speakings (2008) – which he composed as the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Composer in Association, or his 2006 opera Wagner Dream. Another huge influence on Harvey’s compositions was Buddhism, which he practised, and eastern spiritual philosophies.
Jonathan Harvey’s life and his music are remembered and celebrated on Music Matters this week by composer Julian Anderson, conductor Martyn Brabbins - who conducted the premiere of Harvey's last opera, Wagner Dream, and historian and friend of Harvey's, Jonathan Cross"
There's quite a lot of his music available on Spotify.
I'll miss his apparently constant invention and his gentle soul.
The MM tribute runs ..
"Jonathan Harvey died earlier this week, at the age of 73, after suffering a long and terminal illness of the nervous system.
It was an invitation by Pierre Boulez to work at IRCAM in the early 1980’s that shaped and characterised Harvey’s music and career – fusing electronics with acoustic instruments as he explored new sound worlds. This can be heard in pieces like the orchestral triptych - Body Mandala (2006), …towards a pure land (2005) & Speakings (2008) – which he composed as the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Composer in Association, or his 2006 opera Wagner Dream. Another huge influence on Harvey’s compositions was Buddhism, which he practised, and eastern spiritual philosophies.
Jonathan Harvey’s life and his music are remembered and celebrated on Music Matters this week by composer Julian Anderson, conductor Martyn Brabbins - who conducted the premiere of Harvey's last opera, Wagner Dream, and historian and friend of Harvey's, Jonathan Cross"
There's quite a lot of his music available on Spotify.
I'll miss his apparently constant invention and his gentle soul.
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