That first inspiring work….

[unknown-user]

I’m putting together an education project for schools, a series of solo concerts, and I wanted some advice from students and teachers.

I was thinking back to that first harp work that I heard when I was a young thing, the piece that made me think i really wanted to play harp. For me it was the Debussy Danses, and then the Ravel Introduction and Allegro…consolidated that feeling, as it was ensemble playing that tended to do it for me….more so than solo repertoire.

I think the first solo work I that really inspired me was the Tailleferre sonata, and coming close second the Caplet Divertisement L’Espagnole..my goodness, what a serious young thing I was! But I doubt that many people woud share that…and I cannot play a whole program of modern works. I want to show some breadth.

So, I was wondering if anyone out there would like to share that moment when they heard that first work that really inspired them, what it was and what touched the about it. What do you feel it showed about the harp, and what made you think…gosh I want to do that! As I really do want to pick and inspiring program to show the range the harp is capable of.

Cheers.

[tony-morosco]

Well, I didn’t start intending to play classical. I fell in love with Irish harp music. But in my area when I wanted lessons my only options were classically trained harpists. Fortunately I found one who was more than happy to indulge my desire to play Celtic music, and in the process opened my mind up to both classical and jazz.

So the piece that first made me think I wanted to play the harp was Carolan’s Farewell to Music. It was one of the first real pieces of music that I learned that I picked out myself and I have to say, it is still the piece that I can play the best still today.

I think I like it because he wrote with such a perfect blending of traditional Irish style and Baroque. It was definitely Irish, but with a special something that you don’t see in other Irish music. And it is by far his prettiest piece. One of his contemporaries commented after his death that, of course, O’Carolan saved his best lament for himself..

[andy-b]

One piece that always stuck out in my mind was Chanson dans la Nuit.

[diane-michaels]

I started one student precisely because she had a recording of Chanson dans la nuit and wanted to learn to play the harp so she could learn this piece.

[Elizabeth Volpé Bligh]

When I first heard Mozart’s Flute and Harp Concerto, that did it for me. I was a flautist at the time, and played this piece as part of an audition. Right after that, I switched to the harp. However, it took several years before I mastered the harp part! I know it’s not Mozart’s finest work, but it has a lot of charm, and it was the first time I realized that a harp could play intricate melodies.

[unknown-user]

Thanks Tony! I have some arrangements of O’Carolan by Derek Bell that are rather wonderful. And I will add the Farewell to Music to my program. I’m not just going to play classical music, either. So I’m glad you suggested that.

I think I will stick to pedal harp… but maybe I should take my “the quirky” (my light strung folk harp) along and do a bracket of O’Carolan tunes…now that’s an idea!

[unknown-user]

Thanks Diane and Andy…yep, looks like I better hunt out the Chason dans la nuit!

[unknown-user]

Actually, there is an arrangement of the second movement for just flute and harp out there..and that gets the cogs moving in my

[Kelly R]

For me, it was (and still is) Nocturne by Glinka!

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

The Angel recording by Annie Challan of the Debussy Danses, Ravel Introduction and Allegro, Faure Impromptu, and the Pierne Morceau de Concert convinced me that if those works were in the harp literature, then it was worth learning to play the harp. When I first heard Chanson dans la Nuit I was totally taken with Salzedo. If I’d had the opportunity to really hear the literature for the harp, I don’t know what would have been different, but I might have started sooner. I wish I’d been able to hear the Conte Fantastique and solos of Caplet at first, more of Salzedo, and a lot less Godefroid and such.

[Lisa McCann]

My first inspiration for harp came when I heard someone my age playing a harp (no idea what piece) live.

[unknown-user]

Thanks all. The minute you say these pieces, I say to myself of course! And they are all going on, and I will add a little thankyou to you all in my program for help with the repertoire selections!

Glinka Nocturne, the Chanson, Rumores de la Caleta are all now on my list! I may put the Impromptu on to, if I have it up with all my other work “stuff”.

Some more folk music is definitely in order and I’ll hunt out that Welsh tune you mentioned Lisa.

[Ken H.]

[rod-anderson]

Hi, Curly.

It wasn’t the piece that inspired me – it was the instrument.

[unknown-user]

Annie Challan performing old harp music(Hochbrucker,Petrini,Krumpholtz) was my first harp album but Zabaleta playing Samuel Rousseau and Roussel,that was a genuine inspiration

[Author]

Posts