Talladega Auction Harp Erard

[steven-todd-miller]

Check out this Erard being auctioned in Talladega, Alabama.

http://www.auctionzip.com/Listings/925392.html

[diana-day]

I’m

[jessica-wolff]

Well, it requires a certain amount of coddling, yes. But quite a few people think it’s very worth it.

[diana-day]

I know that must be true. The reason I asked is that I heard a wonderful YouTube clip of Sylvain Blassel playing part of the Bach Goldberg Variations,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDl1vjJwBLc

So I went to the site about his CD that features this recording and it mentions,

“The harps used in this recording were specially chosen: these two Erard harps were selected for the clarity and smoothness of their sound even though their mechanical action is less discrete than other instruments.”

And then, “This recording would not have been possible without:

Alexandre Budin, harp maker, who made numerous and crucial adjustments to the harps used in the recording.”

So I wondered if a harp that sounds like what you hear on this clip might be out of reach of the average player who buys an antique Erard and has it restored. Of course, it helps to have the tremendous talent and training of Sylvain Blassel to produce it!

For the rest of us, it’s great to be able to listen to these recordings.

[carl-swanson]

I personally would never bid on an instrument like this without being able to examine it first hand myself. The reason is that photographs really don’t communicate the technical information I need to evaluate its condition. Is it worm eaten for example? Is the action rusted shut and unuseable? Is that really the soundboard? Or a piece of plywood nailed on to make it look nice, but totally unuseable? These are just a sampling of the questions that cannot be answered with photographs. There are many more.

[steven-todd-miller]

Judging from the other items being auctioned and the posted history of the estate on the auction website (the house was built in 1833 with only one family living in it since- look at the photo list!)- it could be possible that this family bought it new and it has been rarely played. If I lived closer to Talladega I’d go see it in a heartbeat!

[barbara-brundage]

Yeah, it’s a real shame to see an old period house like that broken up. Such a pity, but I would bet this harp might actually be decent. Still, no way to know without seeing it in person. They sure did have some amazing stuff–looks like it should have become a museum instead of getting sold off piece by piece.

(On the other hand, I’ve been called to look at “Granny’s harp” many times over the years, and even in the same family in a modern climate controlled house it’s pretty amazing what can happen when nobody’s actually playing it anymore.)

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