The answer to last week's question: it was the Debussy Dances that Pierre Jamet managed to learn in just one night, not the Ravel Introduction et Allegro. However, Ravel's work also has stories of its own. It could have been lost forever, before it was ever performed!
To win a DVD this week, tell harpblog@camac-harps.com where Ravel left the score behind shortly after completing the piece. Was it:
To answer last week's question, there has been a fine dynasty of "Camac boys" over the years: recently you might have met Alexis, Thomas, or Sylvain, who is one of our harp technicians.
In fact it is time to say au revoir to Alexis, who is moving to China this month. He will be much missed by everyone in the Camac team, and by many harpists too. All the best to him for his new adventure!
Au revoir Alexis, we will miss you
This week I learnt another detail about the question-of-the-week-before-last, about Benjamin Britten's work with Osian Ellis. Apparently Osian performed the Suite for Harp for Britten TWO DAYS after he'd been given the music. Nice work!
This reminds me of the man of July 2nd's question of the week, Pierre Jamet. Jamet received the score to a famous harp work ONE DAY before he had to play it to the composer, and practised all night. Was this work: the Debussy Dances, or the Ravel Introduction et Allegro?
There are a couple of places left The course is now full! Have a good time!
For Dominig Bouchaud's workshop for professionals and advanced students in Berlin on September 11th.
To answer last week's question, Osian Ellis is the harpist who worked so closely with Benjamin Britten - the Suite for Harp is dedicated to him.
To win an exclusive jazz DVD this week, tell me the name of any one of these members of the Camac team, who you find at the competitions and festivals we sponsor. From dawn till dusk they take care of all logistical details so that the harpists are free to focus on their performance, rather than spending their time looking for a music stand, a practice room or the key to the lift.
The Camac boys will stop at nothing to fulfil your every harp need
The answer to last week's question of the week is: Graham Fitkin. Graham is particularly acclaimed for his explorations of electronica and new media, and we are delighted that his concerto for MIDI harp and orchestra will be premiered at the iconic Maida Vale Studio 1 on January 26th, 2011, with Sioned Williams and the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrew Litton.
Graham Fitkin
Over the summer break I have been on the phone with Sioned, hearing about the concerto, and you can read what Graham himself has to say about it below. The "rhetorical posturing machismo of modern political life" he describes is about the concerto's references to the Iraq war - that's what the human voices triggered by the harp's MIDI technology are discussing.
'The ability of this new instrument to play recorded samples or trigger MIDI effects and parameters means that the archetypal Western perspective of the harp and its associated heavenly docility can be turned on its head. Unlimited soundscapes can be created, meaning that careful choices have to be made so that the end result isn't simply a gimmicky glossary of effects.
I wanted to inject a certain brutality and rawness into the music and decided exclusively to use speech sounds, many of them untreated and bare. This brought up the notion of communication, understanding and the human voice. I want the music to hover between abstraction and narrative, to use voices we may recognise and to focus on the rhetorical posturing machismo of modern political life in contrast to that dreamy harp sound we're accustomed to.' (Graham Fitkin)
This week, another MIDI harp question. On January 26th, 2011, Sioned Williams will give the world premiere of the first concerto for MIDI harp and orchestra, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Maida Vale Studios in London. From which well-known British composer has the concerto been commissioned?
Sioned Williams with the MIDI harp
Answers please to helen@camac-harps.com.Another amplified harp question this week - this time, several answers are possible, which gives you *even more* opportunity to win a DVD. What is the main difference/what are the main differences between a blue harp (an electric harp), and Camac's new MIDI harp?
