'Mothers Shall Not Cry (2000), dazzlingly exploited the acoustic possibilities of the Albert Hall, tossing sounds around electronically and humanly from all sides of the building, high and low, so that this ‘millennium cantata’ had listeners cocking their heads to see the sound... Harvey tackled humanitarian issues, the disappeared and all those, especially women, who have suffered in war and civil strife... Only a composer of Harvey’s integrity could handle this multicultural concoction, from Buddhism to Christianity, the Holocaust and Kosovo... His gift is to make the listener, too, aspire to the higher matters which so preoccupy him by writing music of committment and beauty.'
The Observer (Fiona Maddocks), 6 August 2000
'Mothers Shall Not Cry is the third Prom commission from the master of the large-scale modernist sound fresco, Jonathan Harvey... he provides elegant, often compelling music which ranges from simple chanting and mysterious, evocative polyphony to some marvellous moments exploiting both the timbral and the spatial opportunities afforded by the electronics.'
The Independent (Keith Potter), 4 August 2000
'The score is prodigiously inventive, ranging from the densest textures to the most fragmentary, from complex clashes to something approaching the simplicity of plainsong... It is a score with a ritualistic aura; it creates a spiritual world of its own. And in its blend of rigour and expressiveness it made a palpable impact.'
The Daily Telegraph (Geoffrey Norris), 3 August 2000
The Observer (Fiona Maddocks), 6 August 2000
'Mothers Shall Not Cry is the third Prom commission from the master of the large-scale modernist sound fresco, Jonathan Harvey... he provides elegant, often compelling music which ranges from simple chanting and mysterious, evocative polyphony to some marvellous moments exploiting both the timbral and the spatial opportunities afforded by the electronics.'
The Independent (Keith Potter), 4 August 2000
'The score is prodigiously inventive, ranging from the densest textures to the most fragmentary, from complex clashes to something approaching the simplicity of plainsong... It is a score with a ritualistic aura; it creates a spiritual world of its own. And in its blend of rigour and expressiveness it made a palpable impact.'
The Daily Telegraph (Geoffrey Norris), 3 August 2000