Jonathan Harvey

Laus Deo for Organ

Jonathan Harvey (1939-2012) was a British composer who studied at St Johns, Cambridge and Princeton, and who later taught at various universities and conservatoires across Europe and North America. His psychedelic workLaus Deo has become a brilliant showcase for 20th century Organ music. Commissioned by Simon Preston in 1969, it was supposedly inspired by a dream in which an angel played the main themes to him on an Organ:Harvey said he finished the piece within 12 hours of waking from the dream. It has since become known for its ear-piercing dissonances and exciting cluster chords.