new Marcel Tournier publication!

[Jerusha Amado]

Hi all,

Carl Swanson has just published his latest transcription of Marcel Tournier’s harp music: Deuxième Fantaisie de Concert (Second Concert Fantasy). This piece was not known to exist before now. Carl describes it as an intermediate-level bravura showpiece. So exciting! For more information, check out this link to Carl’s website: https://www.swansonharp.com/marcel-tournier-deuxime-fantaisie-de-concert?mc_cid=8a389388f8&mc_eid=4f2640f2b3

Jerusha

[carl-swanson]

Hi Jerusha- Thank you so much. Slight correction though. This is not a transcription, but rather an original piece for harp that Tournier wrote in 1900 when he was 21 years old. The piece is 18 pages and about 8 minutes long. Because of the speed, it is high intermediate level technically. It’s a wonderful concert piece.

I have no idea why it was never published. I worked from old photocopies of the manuscript that were found in Germany. The owner of the photocopies couldn’t remember where she got them (many years ago). She very generously sent me photos of all the pages. When I was preparing this for publication we didn’t know where the original manuscript was. We know now! She did some detective work and found it!

Here is a link to a video of Catherine Michel playing the piece.

[Jerusha Amado]

Sorry about the error! Glad that you are here to weigh in on this beautiful piece!
Thank you for posting a video of Catherine playing the piece–so beautiful and instructive!
I love everything that Marcel Tournier wrote; he’s my favorite composer for harp.

• This reply was modified 7 months, 2 weeks ago by Jerusha Amado.
• This reply was modified 7 months, 2 weeks ago by Jerusha Amado.

[balfour-knight]

Thanks for making this wonderful piece available now, and for the video of the great Catherine Michel playing the Tournier! The Salvi Minerva sounds fabulous in her hands!

[carl-swanson]

Thanks Balfour,

I’m so glad this piece got rediscovered and is available to the harp community. It’s funny for me to watch Catherine Play this piece. She occasionally uses a fingering here or there that I wouldn’t use. But I learned when she and I were working on editing this piece that she is left handed! She finds certain right hand fingerings to be very awkward (for her) because of this. I’m just dumbfounded that someone who is left handed could become such a great harpist, because the harp is such a right-handed instrument. Another really great left handed harpist is Emily Mitchell. She won Israel in 1979 and had a great career after that.

[balfour-knight]

Thanks for the additional information, Carl. That makes me appreciate Catherine’s and Emily’s wonderful harp playing all the more!
Best wishes,
Balfour

[carl-swanson]

I just found out that the Deuxième Fantaisie de Concert has been chosen as one of the required pieces for the next Anne Adams Competition in 2026. For anyone reading this who is planning on entering that competition, the Carl Fischer edition is the only one available. No other company publishes it.

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