Re: New Xavier de Maistre cd – this week

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

I looked at his discography and his recent cds. Not to turn off those who are interested, but there is so much literature for the harp, I see no reason to resort to gimmicks to fill a recording, and I am offended, in a way, when they say that he has somehow single-handedly revolutionised the way anyone sees the harp, I mean, they must be deaf, dumb and blind to think that just because he’s a guy or something else I don’t know of, it is suddenly a revelation. It’s just like they did to promote Markus Klinko in the 1990s, and it didn’t work too well then. But maybe they are just that ignorant about the harp in Europe. Maybe they have no exposure to the breadth of our literature or to male harpists (how quickly they have forgotten Maestro Zabaleta). More likely, it’s just silly public relations talk. I have been told they only want to hear the same old stuff on the harp, nothing new or different, no challenges, no broadening. Maybe that’s why so many cds have the exact same repertoire. What do I know about it?