About this piece
Iridescence by Chris Paul Harman (1990) from Iridescence
Musical selection from the Esprit/CBC CD Iridescence featuring the music of Istvan Anhalt, Harry Freedman, Chris Paul Harman, Alex Pauk, and R. Murray Schafer
Esprit Orchestra conducted by Alex Pauk
Liner note written by the composer, Chris Paul Harman
The idea of Iridescence in addition to its emphasis on timbre and texture as suggested by the title, is to be universally appealing on a sensual level not only in the nature of the sound, but through structure also. What would be required to fill this criterion is a form which would appear simple enough for a listener to "float" into, yet internally complex enough to meet the demands inherent in a single movement piece lasting approximately twelve minutes. The twelve minutes are divided into two units of time. In the first section, ideas are developed very little and the intensity of dynamics rises and falls continually within a limited range so as to minimize the direction of the music at this early stage. In the second section, the sounds emerge out of nothingness and begin one large ascension of tension in which the lengths of the ideas gradually decrease until the climax is reached amidst an onslaught of action. At this peak, the longest idea of all begins triple fortissimo and gradually diminishes to nothing over a very long period of time. When nothing is left, one final massive cluster explodes and dies away into splinters of sound, the same splinters which were the foundation for the rest of the musical ideas in the piece.
About the Composer
Chris Paul Harman
Chris Paul Harman was born in 1970 in Toronto, where he studied classical guitar, cello, and electronic music with Barton Wigg, Alan Stellings, and Wes Wraggett respectively. His works have been performed by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony, the Montreal Symphony, the Toronto Symphony, the Tokyo Symphony, the Windsor Symphony, the Winnipeg Symphony, the CBC Vancouver Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the National Youth
Orchestra, the Composers' Orchestra, the Esprit Orchestra, and l'Orchestre de Chambre de Radio-Canada.
Mr. Harman has been commissioned by guitarists William Beauvais (December) and Sylvie Proulx (The Swan That Died In Darkness), violinist Jacques Israelievitch (Partita for Solo Violin), oboist Lawrence Cherney (Concerto for Oboe and Strings), Continuum (Spectra, Incidents In Transition), the Esprit Orchestra (Axle), the Guelph Spring Festival (From The Cradle To The Grave), Music Canada 2000 (Uta), the National Arts Centre Orchestra (Let Me Die Before I Wake...), the Sabat-Clarke duo (Midnight With The Stars And You), the Societe de Musique Contemporaine du Quebec (Procession Burlesque), the Standing Wave Ensemble (Incipits), the Societe Radio-Canada (Adagio), Soundstreams Canada (Projection), and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (Flicker).
In addition, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has commissioned his Sonata for Viola and Piano, String Quartet No. 1, Irisation, Theme and Variations, C Section (violin concerto), The Dawn Of Each New Day Brings Us Each A Little Closer To Our Inevitable Demise, String Quartet No.2, Catacombs (flute concerto), Amerika, Mabushii Sora E (piano concerto), as well as Globus Hystericus, which served as the test piece in the piano category of their 1993 National Competition for Young Performers.
In 1986, Chris Paul Harman was a finalist in the CBC Radio National Competition for Young Composers, and was the Grand Prize winner at that same competition in 1990. Iridescence, the work which earned him the Grand Prize, was subsequently awarded first prize in the under-30 category at the 1991 International Rostrum of Composers in Paris, France.
At the 1994 International Rostrum of Composers, Harman's Concerto for Oboe and Strings was chosen as a Recommended Work in the General Category for composers of all ages. In consequence, both works have been broadcast in over twenty countries. In 1998, his orchestral work Blur was awarded first prize at the duMaurier Arts Limited canadian composers competition with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.
In 2001, Mr. Harman's work Uta received an honourable mention at the Gaudeamus International Music Week, and his work Amerika was awarded the Jules Leger Prize for new chamber music in Canada, and was shortlisted for the Prix de Composition de la Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco.
Mr. Harman's current/latest projects include a work for bass clarinet, string quartet and piano for Dutch bass clarinetist Harry Sparnaay with Toronto's Silvestrov Group ensemble.
Noteworthy: Chris Paul Harman is largely self-taught as a composer. In 1986, he became the youngest finalist ever when he won the CBC national Radio Competition for Young Composers, and in 1990, he became the youngest composer ever to be awarded the Grand Prize in that competition. When he was chosen first in the under-30 category of the International Rostrum of Composers in Paris in May of 1991, this was the first time a Canadian composer had been so honoured. The work for which he won these two prizes was the one on this disc, Iridescence. Harman's career has continued to bloom, with performances by major orchestras across Canada and commissions from outstanding soloists and ensembles.
Contact the composer
For more about Chris Paul Harman:
The Canadian Music Centre - Directory of Associate Composers
http://www.musiccentre.ca/apps/index.cfm?fuseaction=composer.FA_dsp_biography&authpeopleid=9223&by=H
http://collection.nlc-bnc.ca/100/201/300/dir_assoc_composers/99-12-14/latest/eng/f_/Harman_Chris.html
An interview with the composer by fellow Canadian composer Paul Steenhuisen
http://www.vex.net/ps/HARMAN.html
Winner of the prestigious SOCAN Jules Léger Prize
http://www.socan.ca/jsp/en/news_events/news_archive/Harman.jsp
The Living Composers Project
http://composers21.com/compdocs/harmancp.htm
For details about Chris Paul Harman's Centrediscs CD released in 2001
(CMC-CD 7201)
www.petrowskaquilico.com/harman.html
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