Format : Sheet music
Par HARVEY JONATHAN. Forms of Emptiness by Jonathan Harvey Forms of Emptiness is a work for mixed choir which sets words from the Buddhist Heart Sutra, in the original Sanskrit, and three poems by E.E. Cummings. The E.E. Cummings poems all have emphasis on the here and now, on 'catching the joy as it flies'. Seeker of truth Follow no path All paths lead where Truth is here Against these vivid flashes of joy and colour is set a chant - the sanskrit of the Heart Sutra - which acts as a ground from which the 'forms of emptiness' briefly emerge, and against which they are comprehended as transient, scarcely real. There are references to other 'sacred styles' as well as that of the chant - to those of Palestrina and Messiaen for instance. Jonathan Harvey / Répertoire / SATB
SKU: AP.12-0571541151
ISBN 9780571541157. English.
Two haiku (the first for piano alone---the only piece here to have been published before---the latter by Basho) bookend three love songs dedicated to Harvey's wife, Rosa. The grouping of the pieces into an eight-minute cycle was the composer's own idea, and it mixes Eastern and Western poets in a totally characteristic manner. Both Tagore and e. e. cummings are represented, poets who are featured in some of Harvey's finest works (Song Offerings and Forms of Emptiness, respectively), and a third song sets Tennyson's Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal.
