JOHN HARLE / Sally Beamish - The Imagined Sound Of Sun On Stone
 from UK Born in 1956, British saxophonist John Harle attended the Royal College of Music, London, making history by graduating with a final mark of 100%. He was subsequently awarded a French Government Scholarship for postgraduate study in Paris with Daniel Deffayet. In 1984 he won the AMCON Award of the Concert Artists Guild of New York, and over the ensuing years developed a unique, broad saxophone sound based on the physical resonances used in singing. He famously premiered Harrison Birtwistle's controversial 'Panic' at the Last Night of the BBC Proms in 1995, and with this, and other works written for him including concertos by John Tavener, Gavin Bryars, Richard Rodney Bennett, Michael Nyman, Sally Beamish, Michael Torke, Stanley Myers and Mark Anthony Turnage, he has performed with countless international orchestras and has sold over 500,000 CD's on major labels. Harle is a composer, having written two operas, three saxophone concertos and many symphonic and chamber works, as well as over 200 film and tv scores. His collaborations with other artists extend to areas outside classical music, and include Elvis Costello, who sang on Harle's seminal album 'Terror and Magnificence', Herbie Hancock, Moondog and Sir Paul McCartney, for whom Harle was Creative Consultant for six years. He is Artistic Director and Producer of Sospiro, a new contemporary music record label, and is Professor of Saxophone at the Guildhall School in London. www.johnharle.com |
The Imagined Sound Of Sun On Stone - Sally BeamishI have drawn on music from various cultures to create a `hymn' in celebration of the coming of light and the turning of seasons. The piece begins with a reference to a Swedish herding call - a special high-pitched song which carries over long distances. This music returns as a refrain throughout. The first part of the piece is inspired by ancient natural horns and primitive drumminjg, interspersed with more modern `blues' harmonies, and the climax is reached as a bell-like, clamour in C major, depicting the moment at the solstice when light enters the prehistoric tomb. After this the music becomes more fragmentary, half-heard glimpses, as if the shaft of light has somehow released sounds stored in stone for millennia, layers of music long forgotten. Christian influences appear, drawing on psalms and chants from different traditions celebrating the enlightenment of Whitsun. The piece was commissioned by the St Magnus Festival and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. It was first performed by John Harle, with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra conducted by Joseph Swensen, at the St Magnus Festival on 21st June 1999. Sally Beamish. |
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