The Arditti Quartet will mark fifty years of creative activity this spring with performances of Jonathan Harvey’s String Quartet No.1 at Kammermusik Basel (27 February), the Boulez Saal (7 March) and Elbphilharmonie (11 May); the 1979 work, commissioned and premiered by the quartet, appears alongside pieces by Xenakis, Lachenmann, Birtwistle, Carter and Neuwirth previously created and championed by the ensemble – full details here.
The 15-minute work is cast in one unbroken movement, opening with shimmering harmonics passed around the quartet, refracting the same fundamental D. From this an innocent unison melody emerges from which the rest of the material is derived, which in turn acquires ever-greater levels of complexity as the piece unfolds through ornaments and radiant doublings, punctuated by violently energetic emotional outbursts.
It featured on the Arditti Quartet’s 2009 recording of Harvey’s string quartets and string trio; the group have given over one hundred performances of Harvey’s chamber music since the premiere of String Quartet No.1 at the University of Southampton. Irvine Arditti devotes a chapter of his 2023 book Collaborations to his lifelong friendship and artistic partnership with the composer. Harvey’s String Quartet No.1 was one of the first pieces the Arditti Quartet would commission and premiere and it was Harvey who invited them to perform what was then only their eighth performance at the University of Southampton shortly after they formed.
A new book by Arditti, Collaborations, published by Schott Music, offers personal recollections of Harvey – they met when performing Stockhausen’s Hymnen – and an extensive analysis of Harvey’s chamber music for strings, including works for violin composed for Arditti, drawing on his many years’ experience as a champion of new music.
On 23 February Léo Warynski and Ensemble Découvertes performed Harvey’s Vajra (1972/2009) for an ensemble of ten players at the Musée National Marc Chagall in Nice. The 7-minute work is for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, piano, percussion, and string quartet, with two of the woodwind players and pianist taking up percussion instruments of their own (woodblock, vibraphone, and tam-tam respectively). Its title refers to Six Vajra Verses that summarise the Dzogchen teachings of Tibetan Buddhism, a pervasive influence on Harvey’s life and work.
Warynski gave the Asian premiere of Vajra in Singapore with the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music New Music Ensemble in 2016. In 2021 he also recorded and toured Harvey’s choral music with Les Metaboles, part of their project The Angels.