Harpblog

The London Harp Sound

A new and quite spectacular CD is the latest release on Cala Records. The brainchild of conductor Geoffrey Simon and harp player Isabelle Perrin, The London Harp Sound features sixteen of Europe’s top harpists—playing in ensemble!

 

 

 

 

 

“Participating in this CD was surprising. I had not imagined how much fun it would be to play in a group of sixteen harpists, like a team, recording works that appeared at first sight to be utterly improbable for this ensemble. And the end result is really a success. Many thanks to Isabelle and Geoffrey for this happy adventure!” Ghislaine Petit-Volta

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The London Harp Sound is the newest addition to The London Sound Series, a popular range of massed single-instrument recordings from Cala Records. For example, The London Horn Sound is the world’s best-selling French horn CD, ever. Virtuosity is at the heart of the concept, and The London Harp Sound is no exception. The arrangements are, to be honest, really difficult and the musicians all have to be top players in order to show off what each instrument can do in ways you never dreamed were possible.

“Although hard to play, each programme, including The London Harp Sound, is designed to be readily accessible to the listener—that is, to people who haven’t necessarily had years of private music lessons”, explains Geoffrey Simon, artistic director and conductor of The London Sound Series. “But ‘accessibility’ so often seems to be synonymous with musical dumbing-down—something which is not only patronising, but, I feel, totally unnecessary. Our recordings of large, single-instrument ensembles are meant to be fun and tuneful—they each include a wide-ranging selection of classical and popular music—while also displaying the best musicianship and in no way compromising the inner essence of what we do.

“For example, in The London Harp Sound we wanted to show how the harp is capable of producing singing, legato melodic lines. This is not something which it is famous for, and not something that is easy to achieve on the instrument. But it IS possible! That’s why an arrangement of the Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune was included, and in fact placed at the very start of the CD. Could anything be more of a challenge to recreate on the harp than that extraordinary solo flute beginning?”

Mai Fukui commissions two new opera fantasies for harp

Mai Fukui recently devised her Paris conservatoire (CNSMDP) Master’s degree exam recital all around the theme of opera - commissioning two new works in the process. The first new opera fantasy for harp is - hooray! - the harp's first Puccini fantasy, by Arnaud Meier on themes from Madama Butterfly. The second work is very different: Minjung Woo's contemporary Fantasie for blue harp and percussion based on her own opera.

Mai explains: "I am Japanese, which is why I wanted to commission a piece based around Madama Butterfly. I went to the arrangement class at the CNSM and found a student who was interested in helping me realise this! I worked with Arnaud Meier for a year on the music, which is based on the famous aria 'Un bel di, vedremo', as well as some other melodies. To bring the feeling of the original opera even closer, Arnaud incorporated an optional soprano part. The Fantasie, which is about six minutes long, remains principally a harp solo. It begins with a solo introduction, followed by a section with the singer (but where the harp doubles the soprano line, so it is also possible to play entirely as a harp solo), before a virtuoso harp solo section, again a duo, and a harp solo to finish. Arnaud took both musical and technical inspiration from the classic harp opera fantasies of Parish-Alvars and Walter-Kühne, as befits Puccini's original music from the same period.

New Scottish lever harp anthology - one copy FREE to give away!

The Scottish contemporary folk scene is particularly active, and one of its shining lights is Ailie Robertson (a finalist in the Jakez François International Lever Harp Competition last year). Ailie has recently edited a new anthology of Scottish harp music. The anthology is in three volumes (elementary, intermediate and advanced levels), and includes contributions from Scotland's best lever harpists today:  Ailie's concept is to celebrate the huge expansion of the Scottish lever harp world over the last ten years. Now is your chance to discover arrangements and compositions by Cheyenne Brown, Gillian Fleetwood, Maeve Gilchrist, Corrina Hewat, Emily Hoile, Tristan Le Govic, Mairi MacLeod, Mary Macmaster, Karen Marshalsay, Marie Louise Napier, Rachel Newton, Hannah Phillips, Fiona Rutherford, Patsy Seddon, Wendy Stewart, Fraya Thomsen, Heather Yule and of course Ailie herself.

We've got a copy of all three volumes of The Scottish Harp Anthology

***FREE***

to give away to the first Harpblog reader who can answer this question: which country is Ailie touring this summer? Answers please to harpblog@camac-harps.com with your postal address.

You can also order the anthology from the Camac online boutique.

On transcriptions

Nice piece in the New York Times, defending the performance of arrangements. Apparently when Ravel heard Salzedo's arrangement of the piano Sonatine for flute, cello and harp, he said "why didn't I think of that?"