(((The))) (((Harp))) ((((Thread)))

[snyprrr]

I strove to illustrate the harp's unique ability to soothe by surrounding the words in the Title with 'lily ripples', as if the words had fallen from a tree into a French Impressionist pond. Only the harp can produce such a conform mood, with almost matter as to what is being played.

True, the harp can incur a creepy tinge when played with Poe in mind (Caplet, Schmitt), and has been used to great effect in Modern Music (Scelsi, Xenakis), but, we all know and love the harp for its heavenly characteristics: cascading rivulets running down, bubbling froth percolating up.

I suppose we can argue about Ancient Music, and the harp up until the time of Beethoven, but what can't be denied is that the harp has flourished since French Impressionism, and come into its own. From arrangements of Debussy, to Berio and Stockhausen, the harp has been as unto a true muse to the 20th century.

I just recently noticed no actual harp recital in The Library. I have been getting by on Ibert's Six Pieces (1916-17), which, at @28mins., really are a bit much; but, if you just want to chill, they make a good half hour of background (the Schezetto appears on a nice recital by Marcus Klinko (EMI)). This, and the random Debussy/Ravel/Roussel-flute/harp/string quartet cd (usually by the Melos Ensemble), and other random pieces on cds, is all I found.

So, I went 'a searchin'. And here is the short list of what I found. I have translated the entire Modern harp repertoire down to three cds:

Marcus Klinko 'Recital' (EMI)
Maria Graf 'Recital' (Philips)
Claudia Antonelli 'Harp XX' (Arts)


Starting with Debussy & Satie transcriptions, and going through original pieces by Faure (Une chatelane en sa tour... & Impromptu), Roussel (Impromptu), Pierne (Impromptu-Caprice), Caplet (2 Divertissements), and Saint-Saens (Fantasy, Op.95), the first two cds offer a grand overview of the best known French classics, including La Source by Hasselmans, and, allude to masters Tournier & Grandjany & Renie. Really, most any harp cd in existence will have a good portion of these same works (I didn't think I say any cd with the Roussel-Pierne-Caplet combo).

If we add Taillfaire, Hindemith, & Britten, we now have a lock on the harp repertoire before 1950. Performer is the only real consideration in this repertoire, and there are a multitude, too many to list, and, I'm not yet a connoisseur.


In the modern era, we certainly have our first 'masterpiece' with Berio's Sequentia II (1965), which certainly tickles my ear with all manner of techniques. The Antonelli disc also includes other Italian masters (Petrassi, Bussotti), and, indeed, Antonelli is the recipient of dedications by Donatoni & Sciarrino. And certainly Ursula Holliger has been the instigator of who knows how many lesser known pieces that have never made it onto a recital disc?

And, lest we neglect to pre-empt James's Post, Stockhausen appears to be the most prominent Composer in recent memory (along with Bussotti) to have written what seems like an instant classic for 2 harps... uh, what's it called, James? A... something?

Oh, and leave your harp jokes at the door, haha!! NOT!!

[bhodges]

This recording below, Love Is Come Again by harpist Bridget Kibbey, is excellent and includes works by André Caplet, Kati Agócs, Elliott Carter, Britten, and Germaine Tailleferre. I've heard her do the Carter piece live (Bariolage, from 1992), and it's quite striking, especially for those who may have ideas of what harp music "should" sound like.

PS, the Stockhausen piece is Freude, which I've heard Kibbey play with June Han, another great musician who occasionally plays with the New York Philharmonic when additional harpists are needed.

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--Bruce

[petrarch]

There is also the engrossing Cathédrale by Roman Haubenstock-Ramati, a composer whose pointillist works I like very much. No silly singing here, so the harp's timbral richness, great variety of modes of playing and precise notation of all the parameters can be heard undisturbed for the full 25 minutes the work lasts. There are two versions on a Col Legno release: One for solo instrument; the other for solo harp plus 15 harps pre-recorded on tape.

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[snyprrr]

No silly singing here,

DOH!

Hey, that Hauberstock-Ramati sounds like the ticket.

This recording below, Love Is Come Again by harpist Bridget Kibbey, is excellent and includes works by André Caplet, Kati Agócs, Elliott Carter, Britten, and Germaine Tailleferre. I've heard her do the Carter piece live (Bariolage, from 1992), and it's quite striking, especially for those who may have ideas of what harp music "should" sound like.

There's some 'heavy guitar' sounds in the second Caplet piece (both are scintillating), and the Taillfaire is also a new favorite. What an intelligently planned recital, though, I have to wonder what relation the odd-Composer-out is to the harpist, haha!

Handel's Concerto in B-flat major for harp, Op. 4, No. 6, HWV 294 (1738) ..

.. Yolanda Kondonassis.

Is Yolanda extra special? (most harpists are hot, so, THAT's not what I mean, haha!) She certainly has some interestingly varied programs, including pieces by Hovhaness and Rochberg.

Also, I forgot the Concertos: Ginastera, Milhaud, Landowski,... concert pieces by Saint-Saens and Pierne... wow, I'm really drawing blanks,... surely Alwyn?, and maybe many other British Composers?,... obviously Bax has a cds worth of harp music, and I know Jolivet has some very good pieces including the full version of Chant de Linos. Koechlin also has a couple of Harp Quintets.

[listener]

more harp concertos or harp-and-orchestra works by:  Rodrigo, Boieldieu, Jongen, Morawetz, Somers, Eichner, Virgil Thomson, Bochsa, Jadin and Nadermann, not to forget Mozart's Concerto or Flute and Harp, Dittersdorf, Dohnanyi (and Fardas and Hidas_

[snyprrr]

Get this one, it's really good ..

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I... can't... tell... if... you're... serious!!??!! Is it the Eno re-working of Pachelbel, tee hee?

[snyprrr]

more harp concertos or harp-and-orchestra works by:  Rodrigo, Boieldieu, Jongen, Morawetz, Somers, Eichner, Virgil Thomson, Bochsa, Jadin and Nadermann, not to forget Mozart's Concerto or Flute and Harp, Dittersdorf, Dohnanyi (and Fardas and Hidas_

That IS odd that we don't have bigger names here. Oh well... hey, what about Gliere? I thought I also saw one by Aho?

[snyprrr]

And, a shout-out goes to the single harp flourish in the first movement of Scelsi's Aeon. I'm also quite fond of the harp work in Xenakis's ensemble piece Jalons, and there is some great harp/piano interplay in the piano concerto Kekrops. Also, there's a harp in his ST-10, the computer piece.

[pjme]

2012! 

Time for more harp!

For Widor's Choral et variations see: https://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,34271.msg1619973/topicseen.html#msg1619973