A little bit about cellist Keith Harvey (1938 - 2017)

The cellist who plays Ravel on the soundtrack of Un coeur en hiver (see yesterday's post) is so remarkable that I would like to offer a few links to his recordings. Listening to him play makes me very happy.



Harvey studied with Douglas Cameron at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and, directly upon graduation, became the principal cellist of the London Philharmonic. He stayed with the London Philharmonic for five years, and then joined the English Chamber Orchestra. He formed the Gabrieli Ensemble (violin, clarinet, cello, and piano) and spent a lot of time performing Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time, and then the group became the Gabrieli Quartet.

Here's a wonderful camcorder video of a 1988 rehearsal of the Ravel Quartet with Harvey and the Gabrieli Quartet.
And here's a recording of a transcription of Achron's "Hebrew Melody," and one of the Ravel Pavane. These might "autoplay" forward to more tracks from this recording (called "Dedications") that he made with pianist Lynn Hendry for Cello Classics in 2012, but if that doesn't work, you can do a YouTube search for Keith Harvey and cello, and you will find more.