Suspensions

Chelsea Lane, harp. Better Company Records, 2022.

Also of note this month is Brooklyn-based harpist Chelsea Lane’s hauntingly lovely debut album Suspensions. It’s a journey through minimalist-inspired works—including two commissions and several original transcriptions. With an aim to explore the instrument’s subtleties of timbre and phrasing, Lane hopes to expand the harp’s versatility within a context of suspended flow. And she succeeds in masterful fashion. Lane’s transcription of Nico Muhly’s pair of delicate piano works, “Falling Berceuse” and “Falling Pairs,” positively glows. With a nod to the simplicity and nostalgia of Satie, Thomas Adès’ “Souvenirs” invites Lane to play with a soaring quality that evanesces succinctly into a stunning rendition of In a Landscape by John Cage. Favorites are the works by Ellis Ludwig-Leone, especially the two-movement title track with violist Nathan Schram. Ludwig-Leone explores both horizontal and vertical suspensions, the spellbinding rhythms interrupted by floating sonorities. Likewise, Molly Joyce’s “Embodiment” meditates on a motive, then spins its way to a joyous exaltation. Chris Cerrone’s “Hoyt-Schermerhorn”for harp and electronics might be the most evocative work on the disc, expressing the myriad feelings one might feel while waiting for a train in New York at night.

Fernande Decruck, Concertante Works

Chen-Yu Huang, harp; Matthew Aubin, conductor, and the Jackson (Michigan) Symphony Orchestra. Claves Records, 2022.

In an album of recording premieres—Fernande Decruck, Concertante Works performed by the Jackson (Michigan) Symphony Orchestra, Matthew Aubin conducting—principal harpist Chen-Yu Huang gives us an exceptional performance of the harp concerto. Decruck (1896-1954) was a virtuosic organist and exemplary improviser who studied with Marcel Dupré at the Paris Conservatory and lived in New York City. When she returned to France to teach, she devoted herself entirely to composition, and that’s where this effervescent and lively concerto was born. From Huang’s first entrance, we hear masterful handling of the fast-paced phrases that dance within a complex and full orchestration—terrifically performed by the ensemble with numerous notable solos throughout. In a series of arpeggiated chords, the harp introduces us to a lustrous “Andante,” followed by a sassily jazzed-up third movement which looks back to Decruck’s years in New York. A kind of lazy march with shoulder shrugs, it builds to a finale of imaginative surprises. This outstanding world premiere recording would have made Fernande Decruck cheer. •