Salzedo versus Grandjany?

[unknown-user]

I had to print out your response so I can address each point.

Raising does not make the arms limp of course, as dropping them does. It stretches the muscles, and it does relieve tension. They can relax a considerable amount because they are supported by the upper back muscles which take the weight otherwise supported by the strings. Yes, there is a little support in having the fingers on the strings. You might watch the video made by Miss Lawrence, Elizabeth Morse and Dewey Owens. It is fascinating to watch Miss Lawrence demonstrate various effects devised by Salzedo, and she demonstrates clearly the difference in projection between playing a note (I think it was a harmonic) and not moving the hand away, and carrying the note outward with the hand. I mentioned physics, because it is comparable to many examples found there. Think of the follow-through of a baseball pitcher, a tennis player, a bowler, a golfer. It influences the flight of the ball. If they stop short as soon as they’ve made contact with the ball, well, I’ve never seen an athlete do it. I saw Markus Klinko’s New York debut recital. He had so much nervous energy that, after he played a chord, he sort-of twitched his body like he was startled by the sound, and you know what? The soundwaves coming out of the harp twitched as well. He was so connected to those notes that he influenced them after the playing! I have used this experience to play the harp with a vibrato-like effect in particular circumstances, and it has been observed by others, though it is a little faint. There is some experiment in physics where one object is split and each half sent into an orbit, and when one half is affected in some way, so is the other. There is more to a note than just touching the string.

In repertoire where it is impossible to raise, there should be a build-up of resonance in the harp, if you are playing notes all the time, that enhances its own projection. For instance, if you play one isolated note you can make so much sound, but if you repeat it several times you can more sound, or keep refreshing it so it appears to continue to crescendo. If your muscles are supple while playing, raising is not necessary to relax. It isn’t required because there is tenseness. Movement of the arms, oscillation, instantaneous relaxation of the finger after playing, full range of finger movement all prevent tension. That is one of the secrets to facility.

“Crisped” was a word Miss Lawrence liked to use. As I said, the wrist is barely flexed, just a little bit, or even straight until closing the whole hand when there is that little bit of flexion. As I said, Miss Chalifoux likes to teach a much greater degree of flexion. That is her choice.

I heard a lot from Miss Lawrence over the years about the politics and bias involved in competitions and judging. Was it true? It seems like it may be. She witnessed enough personally. According to her, the only reason Lois Colin did not win in Israel was because she tuned the whole harp before she played, and one of the judges had previously announced that they would disqualify any harpist who stopped to tune. She was there, and heard it with her own ears. Could she keep Lois from tuning? No. And she didn’t win.

Miss Lawrence wanted competitions to have music by composers period, and not by harpists, not to add or substitute Salzedo. The competition in Indiana seems to lean heavily on Renie and Tournier for repertoire. It helps if one wants those pieces in your repertoire.
Maybe it’s not intended to keep anyone away. It kind of does, at least to me. If I were planning a competition and required a lot of Salzedo’s music or all Salzedo, I would expect that to send a message about the kind of harpist I would want to enter, or how I would want them to prepare. I once watched a ballet competition from start to finish, through several stages. The winners were the most “competent” dancers, with great technical facility, international in style, and no artistry at all. The great ballerinas on the jury fought to keep their choices in, and the best they got was a third prize. I think there is something about scoring and averaging out differences that goes against artistry in many cases. The olympics, ballroom dance, ice skating all show this from time to time. I think everyone has a kind of esthetic, if not an agenda, that arises innately out of their life experience.

I therefore, do not assume competitions to open and unbiased, if only because they may be judged by people of similar tastes. Miss Lawrence’s students who have not advanced in competitions (I was not there to hear for myself) have gone on to great careers and rave reviews of the most serious appreciation. That means a lot more, in my book. I heard quite a few competition winners in their New York debut recitals, and I was far from impressed. They tended to have facility, confidence, not very good taste in repertoire, and not much depth in interpretation or feeling. They were not especially musical either. But they were able to play the harp very well, and perhaps displayed some personality. I don’t think that’s enough. The only one that comes to mind that I felt was musical and interesting was Emily Mitchell. I remember coming out of Carnegie Hall after a recital by Elena Zaniboni, and hearing people literally say, well that’s the last harp recital I’ll ever go to.

I do know that orchestra auditions are sometimes not fair. Sometimes they are even fixed. I don’t think they’re a good example. So I don’t think competitions are a good barometer of anything except the competition itself and how it is organized and run. A sensitive artist is going to thrive in that atmosphere? I wouldn’t think so.

For one example, take the CPE Bach Sonata, . . . please. Competitions are not allowing harpists to use Miss Lawrence’s edition, and are even eliminating players solely for using it. That’s not fair. An artist has a right to choose their editions, and as far as the issue of the order of movements goes, both Zabaleta and Grandjany made the same choice of Allegro, Adagio, Allegro. Her edition was also the first to be faithful to the original in its ornamentation and inner feeling. Her work deserves more than being cast aside for a music trend that, to me, is primarily commercial, as “authentic” performances were a way to sell more records. Do you prefer recent performances of classical or baroque music to groups like I Musici or the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields? I don’t. Perhaps they were just too good to be bettered. Serving authenticity for its own sake, over and above musicality and artistic freedom is not art or music. The manuscript on which all these judgements are based is not one written by the composer himself. It was copied later with a steel pen. So would you have a student relearn the piece in another edition just to please a competition?

I don’t find Salzedo player’s technique, if they are fully developed, to ever be insufficient. In fact, they have been said to generally play faster, stronger, with better tone quality, less pulling in fortissimos (with certain exceptions) in all repertoire. If you don’t hear that, then that’s what you hear or don’t hear. You were at the conference. Judy Loman is an excellent example of Salzedo technique, and I didn’t see any modification of it, nor with Alice Giles or Yolanda Kondonassis, except for the Chalifoux touches, like their wrist use. They all raised, especially Yolanda. Perhaps you missed her Ginastera performance. The “elbows up” emphasis is something used with beginners to develop their muscle/memory. Some people stay with it. Most don’t to any extreme. I thought all the harpists at the conference with Salzedo training were remarkably consistent. The most artistic playing by far, I felt, was Elizabeth Richter’s. Beautiful rounded tone, sensitivity, flowing movement, everything I prize.

I agree that there may be patterns in the examples you cite, but I don’t say what they represent. By the way, Elizabeth Hainen of the Philadelphia Orchestra, was originally trained by Alice Chalifoux, and the way she plays in the orchestra reflects that, however much she learned from Miss McDonald.

I have never heard, live, any harpist who could play better than Heidi Lehwalder, as a harpist. Some I prefer interpretively, some have equal facility. None match her tone quality and command. I hope you get a chance to see her at her best. I love Judy Loman’s playing, and Erica Goodman’s recordings (I haven’t seen her live yet). Alice Giles is always amazing. Grace Wong is superb. Carolyn Mills is excellent. Emily Halpern is remarkable.

Can we put this to rest?

What I would like to know, is what specifically, are all the titles of the pieces which Debussy told Pierre Jamet he approved of as harp music?

[carl-swanson]

Saul- When I was studying with Jamet, I remember him telling me one day
that Debussy had suggested he transcribe some of his other pieces.

[unknown-user]

Thanks. I’ll look forward to what you can find out. I wonder if he thought of Bruyeres as a harp piece.
Just imagine if Salzedo had never left France! What would that have been like? I’ve often wondered if there is some resentment or chauvinism directed at him just because he emigrated.

[carl-swanson]

I’m absolutely certain that the resentment towards Salzedo has nothing to do
with the fact that he emmigrated.

[Nicole Christopher]

This is exactly why I stay away from AHS events.

[carl-swanson]

Aw c’mon!

[Tacye]

While on the topic of technique- what school of playing is shown in the picture of Roslyn Rensch’s hands at the back of Harps and Harpists?

[alexander-rider]

ooooh. Dunno? I know that she studied with Alberto Salvi whilst she was at Northwestern, Illinois. He was Italian and in all probability studied wioth one of the Itlaian conservatory teacher or a teacher trained in the French style. p.s-where abouts in the UK are you? I am choosing my uni and i want a harp friendly one? any thoughts? Alex

[Tacye]

Alex- Come to Cambridge, best place to be a harpist if you don’t want to study performing or even music.

[janet-king]

Hey Carl and Saul, I just want to thank you both for your public “goading” with each other.

[unknown-user]

Well, thanks for making me feel really old. It is important to discuss these things, even disagree, because it hopefully reminds people that playing the harp can be art, not just an occupation. As far as the Harp Society goes, I was particularly impressed by how free the Conference was of any contentiousness overall. The atmosphere is quite different now. We Salzedo advocates stick to it because we believe in it as art, and its boundaries are, I feel necessary, for it to retain its essence, and not be watered down out of existence. Playing Salzedo’s music for all its worth does require understanding his esthetic and tonal palette, like other composers. It is also pertinent because so much of it is an oral tradition, not written down, but passed down from teacher to student. The way we talk about it can change, but the questions will remain the same.

[carl-swanson]

GRANDPARENT??!!??

[kimberly-rowe]

Nicole:

I’m sad to hear that you stay away from AHS events. Although I understand your
reasoning, I think you would be surprised at the amount of cross-representation you will
find currently at these events. As one of the organizers of the most recent AHS conference
in Philadelphia, I can tell you that we tried extremely hard to showcase harpists with a
variety of backgrounds. Although we did pay a heavy tribute to Salzedo, because of his
strong roots in Philadelphia, our concerts featured top harpists from all over the world and
our organizing committee included representatives from all styles of playing.

I won’t dispute that you may have encountered a few bad attitudes in the AHS along the
way, but to blame the entire society isn’t really fair. In order to confront some of the
problems you mention in your post we really need to present a unified front to the rest of
the music population. You might not like everything the AHS is doing (and I don’t either),
but at least they are trying to address some of the problems you mention in the form of
commissioning projects and bringing harp to the public eye through large-scale events
like those you avoid. I hope you’ll reconsider your view of this organization and give it
another chance.

[unknown-user]

I want to address the rumor of Salzedo technique causing a lot of pain. When done correctly, the complete opposite should be true. As a very natural way of moving, that corresponds to the physiology of the body, it should relieve pain. It is extreme positions, like wrist way in or way out, inner arms pressing against the harp, tense shoulders, not closing the fingers, playing with tight hands and fingers, that cause pain. If you see a harpist wringing his or her hands between pieces, that’s not a good sign. You can learn to see if someone is playing with tightness. Isolating each finger and reaching extreme lengths is also not good. All the fingers need to work together as a team, helping each other, and with a sense of whole-hand movement, that’s how I see it.

There are some other techniques, too, like Attl technique and some other middle and eastern european schools. I haven’t seen a Russian harpist do it, but I’ve heard that they rotate their thumbs in a circle instead of closing.

[Nicole Christopher]

Kimberly,

I, under no circumstances, believe the AHS itself is portraying this attitude.

[Author]

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