Uist

FitkinWall: Ruth Wall, harps; Graham Fitkin, electronics. Naxos Classics, 2025.

Uist, a remote archipelago in the Outer Hebrides, holds a history marked by displacement. During the 18th and 19th centuries, waves of tenant farmers and crofters were forced from their lands as landlords sought to expand their estates. That deep, haunting legacy lingers beneath the surface of Uist, the latest album by FitkinWall—featuring Ruth Wall on Gaelic wire-strung, Bray, concert, and electro harps, and Graham Fitkin on Moog Voyager, Ableton, and FX modules. Blending traditional Gaelic melodies with minimalist electronica, Uist offers a soundscape that is at once ancient and eerily modern. The result is utterly mesmerizing—music that feels suspended in time, with ambient spaciousness, ghostly solitude, and a calming, otherworldly grace. Take the Irish reel Ale Is Dear. It dances with subtle joy, but from a distance, like a memory glimpsed through fog or the flicker of shadowed figures. The ballad Gaol Nam Ban aches with quiet intensity, the harp taking the role of a lone voice, answered by faint chimes that echo with emotional depth. And I Ho Ro—a traditional lament—is rendered here with such tenderness and clarity, it may well be the most hauntingly beautiful version you’ll ever encounter.

My Voice

Teresa Suen-Campbell, harp; Sinfonia Toronto—Nurhan Arman, conductor. Navona Records, 2025.

Chinese-Canadian harpist Teresa Suen-Campbell’s new album of harp concertos is anchored by Chan Ka Nin’s sensuous and haunting Harp Concerto—a work that demands not only virtuosic skill but also a moment of pure vulnerability, as Suen-Campbell is called upon to sing. It’s a striking highlight in a deeply expressive collection, the final work on an album of concertos. Handel’s beloved Concerto for Harp is the curtain raiser, where Suen-Campbell delivers a performance that is clear, elegant, and full of joyful nuance. The second piece is a deeply personal offering: Concerto for Harp and Orchestra “Atonement,” a neoclassical concerto by her husband, Canadian composer James W. Campbell. Across three movements, it explores themes of spiritual searching and inner peace—a musical expression of faith and devotion. Backed by the excellent Sinfonia Toronto, Suen-Campbell brings warmth, clarity, and emotional depth to this thoughtfully curated program. •