"What is the purpose of music? It is, in my opinion, to reveal and heal the nature of suffering. The ultimate question of existence," said British composer Jonathan Harvey (* 1939). He became known for a complex sound language, in which (like his examples Messiaen and Stockhausen) spirituality is combined with advanced compositional techniques. As a youth, Harvey was aware that music was capable of
… expressing spiritual realities, if only because these realities could not be unexpressed either. "So he would never forget the ghosts that haunted St. Michael's Chapel when he played the organ," says a remarkable sentence in the booklet of the CD discussed here. Ades released a CD with three works by Jonathan Harvey: "One evening" for soprano, mezzo, ensemble and electronica, "Advaya", for cello and electronica and "Death of light / light of death" for harp, oboe, violin, viola and cello. The performers are members of the Ensemble InterContemporain. The latter work was commissioned for a concert by the Ensemble InterContemporain, which was held on Good Friday in 1998 for Matthias Grunewald's impressive Issenheim altarpiece. "Pherhaps no crucifixion ever seemed quite so devestating, the Light has gone out", said Harvey in his commentary on "Death of light / light of death". (HJ) _ The performers are members of the Ensemble InterContemporain. The latter work was commissioned for a concert by the Ensemble InterContemporain, which was held on Good Friday in 1998 for Matthias Grunewald's impressive Issenheim altarpiece. "Pherhaps no crucifixion ever seemed quite so devestating, the Light has gone out", said Harvey in his comment on "Death of light / light of death". (HJ) _ The performers are members of the Ensemble InterContemporain. The latter work was commissioned for a concert by the Ensemble InterContemporain, which was held on Good Friday in 1998 for Matthias Grunewald's impressive Issenheim altarpiece. "Pherhaps no crucifixion ever seemed quite so devestating, the Light has gone out", said Harvey in his commentary on "Death of light / light of death". (HJ) _more
