So much wonderful material to look forward to. It’s almost overwhelming to a young student.

I am grateful for your comment about chamber music. I often overlook that aspect of performance, and

That is an excellent question, and perhaps a mystery. I have had some
training as a composer, not a lot, but I consider myself a serious
composer who is concentrating on harp music. I would like to study it
intensely but circumstances do not permit it. The appearance of genius
has so much to do with luck, it seems. Bochsa may have had some, but
not good character. But did Mozart have good character? I think the
harp attracts people of certain kinds over and over again. People who
are capable of success and achievement are more likely to choose fields
in which they can attain more or become more wealthy/successful. The
repertoire for piano or violin attracts people to them as much as the
instrument itself, I believe. We do have repertoire that is so
musically challenging, that few ever play it, like Milhaud and Bax.
Their styles are so individual, but when you know their other
repertoire, you can grasp what they are after with the harp. But I
didn’t grasp the Milhaud concerto until I heard the Cambreling
recording.

I suggest that every time you order music, buy one piece you don’t know
at all. They are often cheap, and that’s how I’ve built my collection.
You won’t hear much of it played, and it can take years to arrive at an
understanding of a piece and just how to capture it. The maturing of my
harp and my playing has made a big difference in that.

Yes, there is much to learn and look forward to. Other musicians can be
unreliable, so we are fortunate to have so much solo repertoire.

I left out some composers as I was only using the Lyra catalog as a source. Dean Roush has two excellent solo pieces.

What a wonderful dissertation. I avoided enrolling at the Mannes
College just because they required so much Schenkerian analysis, which
I already disliked from my college exposure to it. What makes a piece
art? Art requires imagination, I am thinking lately. I am not
suggesting less-aspiring is not enjoyable, but there are certainly
more-or-less discrete levels of achievement. It is clear when listening
to guitar repertoire, so why not harp? Saint-Saens composed better
music than Schuecker. Why? Well, he was an enormously gifted, genius
composer. Schuecker might have been a great harpist, but a creative
genius? Doubtful. Gifted, quite likely. One criterion to use is whether
the music is of interest to non-harpists. Time and again I read reviews
where the music composed by most harpists is shoved aside into a
category requiring apology, which then tends to extend to the harp as a
whole. We are rarely considered a primary instrument by other
musicians, even. We have to use very good taste and judgement in
selecting our repertoire and balancing our programs. I think a
distinguishing factor in the music that is best tends to be the
presence of intellect and musical thought beyond the scope of the piece
itself, or that the piece contains hints of something much greater or
infinite, not that it is cerebral only. Great music also touches the
soul, something I think Elliott Carter will never do. Better music also
tends to get the attention of critics. I know it is not a popular
position to take. It is much easier to try to please everyone or follow
the crowd. I know someone who suffered for having high standards not
for her own sake, ever, but for the sake of the harp. Certainly one can
make mistakes in judgement, but one has to make considered thought part
of the selection process. Also, as teachers, we must weigh the value of
the student’s limited time and what pieces they will most benefit
from.

That is a good response. Some of these issues and question come up as
one auditions for higher education, and encounters audition
requirements, and then, after enrollment, jury requirements, graduation
requirements, competition requirements, debut requirements, and so on.
And then may come the chance to shape those requirements. None of what
I said has any bearing on playing what one wants or likes/loves to
play. It is about more external and abstract considerations.