10/10
The Topaz Duo: Angela Schwarzkopf, harp, and Kaili Maimets, flute. Redshift Records, 2022.
In its stunning debut album, lumena, The Topaz Duo—harpist Angela Schwarzkopf and flutist Kaili Maimets—brings to life in dazzling fashion four works of living North American composers. The recording offers up not just a study in exceptional new repertoire for this ensemble, but supremely enjoyable listening.
As I listen to the title track by Canadian/Estonian composer Riho Esko Maimets (brother of Kaili Maimets) in my studio in Saint Paul, Minnesota, snow is falling, flocking trees in feet rather than inches. Maimets tells us that the word is the essive case, taking a noun and giving it a sense of temporary state of being, for the Estonian word, lumi, meaning snow. Like the quiet insistence of this winter spectacle, Maimets’ music reaches slowly but inexorably into the heart like a song without words in a stunning tension-filled arc. Schwarzkopf’s serene gentleness underpins the elegantly played long phrases that build almost imperceptibly with just the right energy and emotional impact.
The duo commissioned one of Canada’s stars, Kevin Lau, to write Little Feng Huang, which emerged from the pandemic as “a bit of therapeutic writing.” The music tells the story of a Greek-Chinese couple unable to have a child of their own. They adopt a parrot named Nyx who they train to fetch food from the nearby Chinese restaurant. Just as the couple learns they are pregnant, the bird becomes ill, but like a Phoenix (from both Chinese and Greek cultures) bursts into flames, promising new life. Again displaying depth, Topaz unveils the short story with tenderness, as well as whimsy, especially in the Vivaldi-inspired “Winter is a World of White.” Little Feng Huang provides a showcase for the duo’s exceptional facility with a wide palette of tone colors. The duo’s sophisticated musicality is also on display, the undoubtedly technical passages played with such facility and ease, we’re completely unaware of the challenge and only invited to follow along.
The music dovetails perfectly into American Lowell Liebermann’s somber-hued Sonata for flute and harp where the Topaz shines again as a stellar ensemble, taking music beyond the parameters of the details to a larger message. I find it fascinating how a harpist can create a sense of legato equaling that of a wind instrument, even as each plucked note decays. This is the special magic of Topaz—they are able to sing together with the harp becoming a flute, the flute, a harp—especially notable when the notes speed up in a central scherzo section. Absolutely thrilling and on fire!
Entirely new in character is Canadian Marjan Mozetich’s Sonata for harp and flute. Filled with intricate interweaving of lines, it is playful and full of joy. Topaz displays all the exuberance required of this delightful work, though happily kicking back when a more reflective mood is asked for, as in the dreamily alluring “Lullaby.” This is a scintillating collection of repertoire for harp and flute played with poetic and superlative artistry.
