Ouch! Replaced by a Synthesizer?

[catherine-rogers]

That’s even more insidious than previously mentioned.

I just found out the show my husband’s playing this week originally had a harp part (for which I would have been hired), but the rental now includes a synth. part with–you guessed it–the harp part incorporated into that. The show’s “Candide” by Bernstein.

[sherry-lenox]

Disgusting! The harp part is really important. I bet Bernstien didn’t write it!

[sherry-lenox]

Oooops- meant to say, I bet Bernstein didn’t write the synth. part to replace a real harp…..

[jessica-wolff]

O please, Lenny, let it be so. (I always loved Lennie.)

[jessica-wolff]

Yikes! I spelled /LEN*nee/ two different ways, and me a copy editor!

[Sylvia Clark]

That was a very nice video.

[tony-morosco]

Well, maybe we are all a little biased, but just remember, when a composer puts a harp part into a composition they do it for a reason. Because they feel that the harp adds something to that composition. So to think that the harp in a particular piece that includes it is the icing on the cake is a valid interpretation.

If the harp didn’t make a difference to the piece the composer or arranger wouldn’t have put it there in the first place. If

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

I saw Candide with such an orchestration, and it truly “sucked.” But the production wasn’t that good, either. The best production of the ones I have seen, including the Bernstein revisions, was by far the one done by Minnesota Opera company. It had a small, but full orchestra, and was wonderfully witty. I wouldn’t go see it again, unless it was something like that production. It certainly needs the harp. Doing “A Little Night Music” without harp would be equally tragic.

[catherine-rogers]

True. I played “A Little Night Music” some years ago and never had such fun! We wished it would run for months but it was a limited engagement. One of the best show harp parts ever. Sondheim is a genius.

[Christian Frederick]

I love this thread….

This reminds me of a time long ago before the advancement of sampled sounds. It was circa 1977, I was still in college at CSUN (Southern California) living in Glendale. I was asked to play the piano for a production of MAME at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. It was a community project using talent from Pasadena and the Los Angeles area. Of course the budget was low, and I was asked to play both the piano and the harp part on the upright Baldwin piano…. so I did for a long weekend of performances. I remember the conductor saying “just play all the harp glissandos on the black notes!” So, that was seven years before I ever touched a harp string, but I would say it was my introduction to playing the harp.

So, replacing the harp is not a new phenomenon, but now synthesized sound has become soooooooo advanced, it’s hard not to recognize it’s potential.

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