GMG Classical Music Forum

The Music Room => General Classical Music Discussion => Topic started by: KevinP on October 07, 2022, 02:43:01 PM

Title: Music for harp
Post by: KevinP on October 07, 2022, 02:43:01 PM
I've been on a real harp kick lately. Like, to the point that I'm probably going to buy one--not a grand harp, but a good-sized floor-standing lever model.

Anyway, what are some harp pieces you like? Concertos, solo, chamber, whatever, so long as the harp has a prominent role.

I have the following concerti, all fairly recent additions except the Milhaud:
Milhaud
Ginestera
Gliere
Alwyn
Mathias
Tischenko
Title: Re: Music for harp
Post by: Symphonic Addict on October 07, 2022, 03:04:31 PM
Besides the ones you mentioned, these are also strong favorites:

Bax: Harp Quintet
Britten: Suite for solo harp
Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Concertino for harp and orchestra
Debussy: Danses for harp and strings
Dohnányi: Concertino for harp and orchestra
Hindemith: Harp Sonata
Hovhaness: Harp Concerto
Jongen: Harp Concerto
Lutoslawski: Double concerto for oboe, harp and orchestra
Pierné: Concertstück for harp and orchestra
Rautavaara: Harp Concerto
Reinecke: Harp Concerto
Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez
Saint-Saëns: Fantasy for solo harp, Op. 95; Fantasy for violin and harp; Morceau de concert for harp and orchestra
Tveitt: Harp Concerto No. 2
Villa-Lobos: Harp Concerto
Title: Re: Music for harp
Post by: KevinP on October 07, 2022, 03:17:10 PM
I have the Rautaavara and Rodrigo as well. Knew I was forgetting some.

I like Hovhaness a lot but don't have that disc and it's now out of print. I may have to buy the .mp3s until it's available again.

Title: Re: Music for harp
Post by: Mandryka on October 07, 2022, 08:24:49 PM
One of my favourite pieces of music ever is for two harpists - Stockhausen's Freude (Klang)
Title: Re: Music for harp
Post by: Roasted Swan on October 07, 2022, 11:36:01 PM
By chance I got this disc recently;

(https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273f7dc926fd04286aa224c7be1)

its a new release and simply the most beautiful harp recital I have ever heard.  Mainly less familiar repertoire too alongside better known Impromptus by Pierne and Faure.  But the playing/sound/musicianship is just 1st class
Title: Re: Music for harp
Post by: pjme on October 08, 2022, 02:19:08 AM
The harp can be a fascinating instrument.

I like Henk Badings Concerto for harp and small orchestra (albeit with a prominent role for percussion - the slow movement is harp and percussion only).

https://www.youtube.com/v/TZVecuOJPrg

Other favorites, not yet mentioned:

Germaine Tailleferrre's very lovely Concertino

André Jolivet: Concerto for harp and chamber orchestra ("oeuvre dédiée à Lly Laskine", but written for the exams of harp students at the Conservatoire in 1952).

A rare, funny  & (s)light work : the Jazz concertino by Belgian composer/arranger Emile Deltour (1899-1956)

https://youtu.be/CKqYYtMfdsw

Other works with harp parts:
Frank Martin : Petite symphonie concertante (harp, piano, harpsichord and 2 string orchestras) and Dances for oboe, harp and strings (written for K.H. and Ursula Holliger)
Ravel: Introduction et allégro ( + the ovely short solo in the pianoconcerto in sol : first mov.)
Boris Tsjaikovsky's (strange...) Symphony for harp and orchestra
Don't forget Mozart's Harp & flute concerto



Title: Re: Music for harp
Post by: LKB on October 08, 2022, 02:56:06 AM
Nicanor Zabaleta was DG's go-to harpist back in the analog era. He put out an anthology of French harp pieces and transcriptions which was quite entertaining, here's an excerpt:

https://youtu.be/TqIc3qDZPZA



Title: Re: Music for harp
Post by: vandermolen on October 08, 2022, 03:10:29 AM
Bax, Gliere, Alwyn (as mentioned above) + these ones:

(//)
Title: Re: Music for harp
Post by: Roasted Swan on October 08, 2022, 08:46:18 AM
Bax wrote prominently for harp a lot.  This is a good starting disc;

(https://e.snmc.io/i/1200/s/39d733e6b9831b50768be209941d447d/1889428)
Title: Re: Music for harp
Post by: vandermolen on October 08, 2022, 11:31:09 AM
Quote from: Roasted Swan on October 08, 2022, 08:46:18 AM
Bax wrote prominently for harp a lot.  This is a good starting disc;

(https://e.snmc.io/i/1200/s/39d733e6b9831b50768be209941d447d/1889428)
Looks most interesting.
Title: Re: Music for harp
Post by: KevinP on October 11, 2022, 03:13:31 AM
Concertino for Harp and Orchestra,  part 1 by Doug Lofstrom. The second (and final) part is on YouTube as well.

https://youtu.be/Ih_KO30Dp6c
Title: Re: Music for harp
Post by: pjme on October 11, 2022, 06:39:03 AM
I remember that Jean Michel Damase is rather well liked on the forum...
Here is an old recording of his concertino for harp and strings (1950-1951).
Mireille Flour (29 April 1906 in Marseille – 1984 a French classical harpist, naturalised Belgian) was quite famous, not only as a soloist, but also as leader of a harp quartet.

(https://i.discogs.com/QD66FFRjOabHNw01GuB9Ur_dQhmVnB8dp4IQ10JeWF8/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:566/w:572/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTM2Nzk5/OTYtMTM0MDA5NTY3/OS0zNTczLmpwZWc.jpeg)

https://www.youtube.com/v/EH4Bd9PJ0As

and, more ambitious than Paul Deltour's (fun)Concertino à la jazz... Ede Terényi's Jazz concerto:

https://www.youtube.com/v/Hsou-xIysDw

Piet Swerts: Etoiles for harp and orchestra
https://youtu.be/LebbF8S39Jw
Title: Re: Music for harp
Post by: KevinP on October 16, 2022, 03:36:03 AM
I forgot Yun Isang/윤이상 wrote a bit for harp. I have some in my collection, and found some on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/6WwmukXFyrQ

https://youtu.be/WZS75hFoI2M
Title: Re: Music for harp
Post by: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on October 16, 2022, 07:00:08 PM
Jazz/Fusion. Edmar Castaneda.


(https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d00001e021218a5697bd984bebb9150f9)



(https://e.snmc.io/i/600/s/5610bacb7eef8c39c86e63cc3aa83bc3/5568550/edmar-castaneda-cuarto-de-colores-Cover-Art.jpg)
Title: Re: Music for harp
Post by: relm1 on October 17, 2022, 05:24:22 AM
You like harps, you say?  Here are nine of them! 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gf6HJ_k2ocw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gf6HJ_k2ocw

Bernard Herrmann's "Between the Twelve Mile Reef".  Very lousy film but memorable score.  I once heard it performed live with the nine harpists surrounding the stage.  I felt like I was in a bubble bath of sound.
Title: Re: Music for harp
Post by: pjme on October 17, 2022, 07:19:35 AM
There is also a younger generation of very talented harpists - who also compose and/or transcribe:

In the Netherlands: Remy van Kesteren en Lavinia Meyer

https://www.remyvankesteren.com/

https://www.laviniameijer.com/

In Belgium we are quite proud about Anneleen Lenaerts (member of the Vienna PhO)

https://www.anneleenlenaerts.com/

In France : Emmanuel Ceysson

https://www.emmanuelceysson.com/



Title: Re: Music for harp
Post by: Pohjolas Daughter on October 19, 2022, 08:17:55 AM
Quote from: relm1 on October 17, 2022, 05:24:22 AM
You like harps, you say?  Here are nine of them! 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gf6HJ_k2ocw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gf6HJ_k2ocw

Bernard Herrmann's "Between the Twelve Mile Reef".  Very lousy film but memorable score.  I once heard it performed live with the nine harpists surrounding the stage.  I felt like I was in a bubble bath of sound.
Neat!  Thanks for providing the link to that!

So, Kevin, when will you be purchasing your harp?

PD



Title: Re: Music for harp
Post by: Spenserian on October 20, 2022, 05:34:48 AM
Dittersdorf's harp concerto has to be among the great harp concertos, with that delightful rondo finale. It was actually originally a keyboard concerto, which is more rarely heard, because it works so perfectly for harp. Handel wrote a number of concertos later adapted to harp as well, which are among the earliest concertos in which the harp played a major role, apparently.
Title: Re: Music for harp
Post by: KevinP on October 20, 2022, 07:14:11 PM
Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on October 19, 2022, 08:17:55 AM
So, Kevin, when will you be purchasing your harp?

Still up in the air. Would like to try before I buy, which is not the easiest thing to do with a harp.
Title: Re: Music for harp
Post by: Pohjolas Daughter on October 21, 2022, 02:47:53 AM
Quote from: KevinP on October 20, 2022, 07:14:11 PM
Still up in the air. Would like to try before I buy, which is not the easiest thing to do with a harp.
How far away is the nearest company that sells them?  Or is their an instructor with whom you could take some lessons have several different ones that s/he would let you try playing on?

PD
Title: Re: Music for harp
Post by: KevinP on November 18, 2022, 04:14:26 PM
Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on October 21, 2022, 02:47:53 AM
How far away is the nearest company that sells them?  Or is their an instructor with whom you could take some lessons have several different ones that s/he would let you try playing on?

Some movement on this front. I talked to a violinist friend, and while she doesn't know any harpist directly, she knows someone who knows someone. The trick is finding someone who speaks English with a reasonable degree of confidence as I live in Korea.

Frankly, I'm a teach-myself kind of guy and have been told I resist instruction (and can recall instances where I indeed did), but I'd like to think that was a trait of a younger me. My friend is insistent that I talk to a teacher before I buy, and it's hard to argue with the logic.

On the CD front, I've bought quite a few of the titles mentioned above and plan to buy more after spending more time with these.

Without looking at my collection at the moment, I have the following. Most are recent purchases but a few had been hiding on my shelves.

Milhaud
Ginestera
Gliere
Alwyn
Mathias
Tischenko
Dohnányi
Hindemith (Harp Sonata)
Hovhaness
Jongen
Rautavaara (Concerto and Ballade)
Reinecke
Rodrigo (various concerti)
Tveitt
Villa-Lobos
Ravel's Introduction and Allegro
Mosolov
Lofstrum
Yun Isang
Boieldieu
Higdon

The Sarah O'Brien disc

(And while we're at it, Alice Coltrane)




Title: Re: Music for harp
Post by: Pohjolas Daughter on November 20, 2022, 04:48:33 AM
Quote from: KevinP on November 18, 2022, 04:14:26 PM
Some movement on this front. I talked to a violinist friend, and while she doesn't know any harpist directly, she knows someone who knows someone. The trick is finding someone who speaks English with a reasonable degree of confidence as I live in Korea.

Frankly, I'm a teach-myself kind of guy and have been told I resist instruction (and can recall instances where I indeed did), but I'd like to think that was a trait of a younger me. My friend is insistent that I talk to a teacher before I buy, and it's hard to argue with the logic.

On the CD front, I've bought quite a few of the titles mentioned above and plan to buy more after spending more time with these.

Without looking at my collection at the moment, I have the following. Most are recent purchases but a few had been hiding on my shelves.

Milhaud
Ginestera
Gliere
Alwyn
Mathias
Tischenko
Dohnányi
Hindemith (Harp Sonata)
Hovhaness
Jongen
Rautavaara (Concerto and Ballade)
Reinecke
Rodrigo (various concerti)
Tveitt
Villa-Lobos
Ravel's Introduction and Allegro
Mosolov
Lofstrum
Yun Isang
Boieldieu
Higdon

The Sarah O'Brien disc

(And while we're at it, Alice Coltrane)
Thanks for the update!

PD
Title: Re: Music for harp
Post by: pjme on November 20, 2022, 06:16:28 AM
https://www.youtube.com/v/fG-5yQ_CDm0

At least interesting.... Never heard of this Danish composer.

https://www.dacapo-records.dk/en/artists/martin-stauning
Title: Re: Music for harp
Post by: KevinP on June 29, 2023, 06:31:17 PM
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81f9UgSOJRL._SL1500_.jpg)

My newest addition to the collection.
Title: Re: Music for harp
Post by: KevinP on July 13, 2023, 04:41:37 PM
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71GaPvEw9vL._SL1218_.jpg)

It's not just me, right? I haven't heard the piece (though I studied with the composer), but it's out of place on this particular programme, isn't it?
Title: Re: Music for harp
Post by: BWV 1080 on July 13, 2023, 06:12:00 PM