Customer Reviews

Jonathan Harvey: Wheel of Emptiness

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Those familiar with Harvey's work and background will most likely find this release very gratifying. Superbly recorded and performed by an extraordinary ensemble, Ictus of Brussels. The first piece, `Wheel of Emptiness' is a premiere recording commissioned and performed by the full ensemble. The additional pieces (except for the final composition for oboe, harp and string trio) combine solo instrumentation with electronic accompaniment, flawlessly executed and recorded. Sound presence throughout the release is outstanding. The CD as a whole comes of as a well balanced array of Harvey's musical reality.

On this Cypres disc, the Ictus ensemble performs three works by Jonathan Harvey written in the 1990s, most using electronics. I was most impressed by "Advaya" for cello and electronics (1994), which takes its title from a Buddhist term meaning "not-two", the transcendence of duality. Ever fascinated by the spectralist approach, Harvey created a new system based on the overtone spectrum analogous to common-practice tonality.

For those who care about theory: for an overtone spectrum with a fundamental of frequency f, adding f + f to each partial will produce an overtone series starting an octave higher. But between f + f, there is a whole world of distorted overtone spectra to explore.

For the somewhat eggheaded basis of "Advaya", what Harvey is doing is immediately audible to any listener. The cello produces a pure spectrum proceeding from the A of the first string. The electronic part, on the other hand, consists of various distorted overtone series that were recorded earlier on the cello, treated with studio technology and are now played back on tape. For all the seeming conflict between the two sound sources, every single note is ultimately derived from the soloist, hence the title. At the climax of the work, the electronic part reaches f + f, and the effect is, as Harvey intended, just as powerful as a conventional tonal resolution.

"Advaya" is an amazing work, and I've not heard a piece that is so simultaneously musical and based on simple acoustic theory since the early works of Gérard Grisey. It's been widely recorded but I prefer this performance the most. "Wheel of Emptiness" for ensemble and electronics (1997) continues the exploration of compromised spectra. It's enjoyable, though not as primal as "Advaya".

There are a couple of other works like "Advaya" where a solo performer dialogues with himself on tape. In "Tombeau de Messiaen" for piano and tape (1994), the piano is tuned in equal temperment, while the tape consists of 12 different piano parts tuned to the overtone series of each note of the scale. The result is something of a beautiful mess, with the clashing of parts producing bell-like sounds and prismatic colours that surely would have made Messiaen smile. Timings of this piece don't differ so much because the pianist must follow the tape, but this is one of the better recordings for its sound quality. In "Ricercare una melodia" (1984), heard here in its versions for trumpet and oboe, the soloist's tentative attempts at a melodic line are gradually overlaid with other parts with the help of a tape delay system. Ultimately some rich polyphony is established.

The only piece here I didn't care so much was "Death of Light/Light of Death" for 5 instruments (1998) was inspired by the five figures in Grünewald's painting of the Crucifiction and scored for oboe, harp (doubling tam-tam), violin, viola and cello. The combination of strident oboe and strings in the first movement "Jesus Crucified" sounds rather different from the Harvey I've come to know, and not in a good way. "Mary, Mother of Jesus", however, is a work of slow melody and harmonic stasis similar to Harvey's "Madonna of Winter and Spring". Somehow this piece is so lightweight.

I've always felt that the best introduction to Harvey's music are his string quartets or "Bhakti", but most of the music here should appeal to a wide audience of contemporary music fans.