For me, as for many children, the first musicalinstrument was the recorder. My father brought onehome for me when I was three. Through playing therecorder, I learned to read music to a decent standardat an early age, which was very helpful. Although Iranged across a multitude a woodwind instrumentsbefore going on to become a composer, I never stoppedplaying the recorder. So, in 2009, when Leanne Nichols of the HongKong City Chamber Orchestra asked me to write aconcerto for Michala Petri, I was very happy to take onthe commission. My only problem was that I wasdoing a lot of travelling at the time, but I soon found away around this. I took two recorders with meeverywhere. One was a soprano (descant) instrument;the other was a digital recorder. Whenever I was ableto find the time, I would try out ideas for the concertoand make recordings, building up an archive that Icould refer back to. My favourite location for thisstrange activity was the church of Furnas on the littleisland of São Miguel, in the Azores. I was in there forseveral hours and recorded a lot of new material, all ofwhich eventually found its way into the piece. I metMichala for the first time in Hong Kong about a weekbefore the premiere of Concerto Incantato. I told her thatwhen she arrived on the scene as a child wonderrecorder player, in the 1970s, I determined absolutelynot go head to head with her in the recorder world. Sheis a few years younger than me and my mind wasalmost made up already, but she influenced my choiceof career markedly, nudging me towards composing,rather than performing. I won’t say I’ve never lookedback, but when I hear Michala playing, I think I madethe right decision. Richard Harvey
- ISMN: 9790708129141 (M708129141)
