'… one of Britain's most important contemporary composers… on Mortuos Plango the cross-breeding of recorded sounds of bell and voice with synthetic simulations of them remains quite stunning…'
Classic CD (Andy Hamilton), September 1999
'The irresistible crowd-pleaser of the evening was the Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco… Recorded church bells of various depth and brilliance ring out, their natural resonances taken up by electronic devices and stretched from original shapes into new ones. One hears in these synthetic sounds both the natural materials from which they came and something previously unknown. Synthesis arrives sometimes as sheets of legato, sometimes in tiny shattered fragments.'
The New York Times (Bernard Holland), 17 November 1999
'… a 10-minute masterpiece… Built upon the clang and overtones of the great tenor bell of Winchester Cathedral and the treble voice of Harvey's chorister son Dominic, and heard this time in its proper eight-channel sound, Mortuos Plango is a richly inventive essay in a brand-new medium, and a shapely, satisfying musical construction. The electronically relayed sounds serve and expand the music, but never swamp it with effects; the music itself is often poignant, even haunting.'
Financial Times (David Murray), 19 March 2004
Classic CD (Andy Hamilton), September 1999
'The irresistible crowd-pleaser of the evening was the Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco… Recorded church bells of various depth and brilliance ring out, their natural resonances taken up by electronic devices and stretched from original shapes into new ones. One hears in these synthetic sounds both the natural materials from which they came and something previously unknown. Synthesis arrives sometimes as sheets of legato, sometimes in tiny shattered fragments.'
The New York Times (Bernard Holland), 17 November 1999
'… a 10-minute masterpiece… Built upon the clang and overtones of the great tenor bell of Winchester Cathedral and the treble voice of Harvey's chorister son Dominic, and heard this time in its proper eight-channel sound, Mortuos Plango is a richly inventive essay in a brand-new medium, and a shapely, satisfying musical construction. The electronically relayed sounds serve and expand the music, but never swamp it with effects; the music itself is often poignant, even haunting.'
Financial Times (David Murray), 19 March 2004