The Four Seasons

Keziah Thomas, harp. Convivium Records, 2022.

Also of note are two albums of original transcriptions, beginning with British harpist Keziah Thomas’s glorious arrangements of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, the first ever for harp. Describing her desire to play these masterpieces—a mash-up of both solo and orchestral lines—she looks to the larger set from which they derive, “The Contest between Harmony and Invention,” and suggests she’s won that contest by searching out bountiful timbres resulting in a wholly new and engaging sound world. In “Spring” (which needed to be transposed up a step to work) the “birds salute with happy song” is whispered on the highest strings. Through the use of palm slaps, we hear thunder and gunshots in “Autumn,” while fast tremolo and icy harmonics become the chattering of teeth in “Winter.” This is a lovely album to hear, for sure, though the best part of all may be that the sheet music is available too. 

The Lark

Agnese Contadini, harp. Orpheus Classical, 2022.

Italian harpist Agnese Contadini brings rapturous color and spot-on timing to her lavish new release The Lark. The project got its start with the six poetic musings by Liszt, Consolations, which are also happily available as sheet music. These touching miniatures stand in stark contrast to his flamboyantly virtuosic oeuvre and require a gentleness of touch, a strong sense of line and the maturity to let the notes sing, all of which Contadini naturally possesses. Luminescent and memorable is Ksenia Erdeli’s transcription of The Lark in its recording premiere as well as Tchaikovsky’s March, which requires a slightly bolder, more present sound, which in Contadini’s hands remains warm and full. Painting with a broader brush and opulence in Hans Trneček’s fanciful Moldau transcription, she draws us to the many moods of Smetana’s homeland.