The Worst Harp Player

[Amiable Aardvark]

And what hint might that be, Saul? You started this a week ago and had to resurrect it yourself because no one would play. If you wanted to know about obscure works or recordings you could have simply put it as a question.

So what are you hinting at that we should do?

[unknown-user]

I was going through my old records and found another one:

Classics of the Harp with Luigi Fagioli

His repertoire is:

Fantasy and Variations on Zamara’s Fantasy on themes from “Gilda”

Sonata for harp by Fangoul

Renaissance Suite by Pino Nota

Italian Lute Tunes arranged for harp by Grossi Stromboli

Sonata by Pescetti

Sonata by Casella

Nadermann’s Six Progressive Sonatinas

[louise-vickerman]

I recall from a music history class I took in 1989 that maestro L. Fagioli was hired to serenade the workers during the annual spaghetti harvest and was a featured performer on the final night of the “Harvest Festival”……

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti_tree

[unknown-user]

He probably didn’t mean anything

[Amiable Aardvark]

We have a different definition of Bad, Maria. To me

“Do we dare have a thread on who we think is the worst harp player? ” and “Too bad we can’t post anonymously”

is pretty clear and doesn’t need any assuming. It is inviting us to hold people up for public ridicule. How “amiable” is that? The made-up stuff (if it IS made up) came days later when the thread was going nowhere.

You’ll probably like the Mean Girls thread too.

[unknown-user]

Sorry.

[Amiable Aardvark]

>unless one of us becomes a mind reader

You don’t have to be a mind reader, only a screen reader. And you’re pretty rude yourself. Out of here now, so have fun, if this is your idea of fun.

[c-k]

Stromboli—-hmmm…

[unknown-user]

Andy,

I’ve been taping myself lately also.

[unknown-user]

I think this thread is far less obnoxious in purpose than “Who is the Best Harp Player in the World”, as if any one person could be given such title, or agreed upon. I think raising people to such a degree, especially without serious consideration, is quite obnoxious. It is considered an American flaw to always assume that someone is the best, or that winners are always the best, such as with the Oscars and so on. There is rarely any one best in any field, unless it is very small. This thread is merely a counterbalance to that one. It certainly was not meant to be a censor magnet. It seems there is nothing crabbier than someone who expects everything to be Hallmark cards all the time. Amiable means, by the way, pleasing, admirable, generally agreeable, friendly, social, congenial. What that has to do with anteaters, I’ll never guess. A curious pseudonym. Maybe I’ll change mine to Cranky Armadillo.

Congratulations to Louise V. for getting it, and thanks Maria for your support.

The funny thing is, when I think back on all the harp recordings I hated most, I can’t think of a worst one, nor anyone like Florence Foster Jenkins. Perhaps it is out there and I just never bought a copy.

[unknown-user]

I didn’t mean hated most, but liked the least. Or, I meant ‘hated’ in a light sense. And I don’t know why my posts are always in white bands like that. I don’t remember doing anything to select it.

[unknown-user]

<<Maybe I'll change mine to Cranky Armadillo.

There you go again, making me laugh!

[louise-vickerman]

Doesn’t anyone get good ol’ fashioned satire anymore??? It seems to be becoming a lost art….

I remember my dad speaking fondly of hearing a performance by F F Jenkins, I wish I could have been there!

P.S. I forgot to add that Maestro Fagioli actually performed on a harp entirely strung with specially treated spaghetti, the exact formula was lost during the late ’60’s… (coincidently correspondent to the advent of the hemp crop…) and that the works of Stromboli were a real hit with the spaghetti harvest crowd..”encore”..”encore”..!!! If it weren’t for that darn BBC investigation, he would still be out there at 98 yrs old strumming away…..

[Mel Sandberg]

The Desargus Variations are on a CD of Xavier le Maistrre – Die Virtuose Harfe, I think.

[unknown-user]

I think you might only find Ruthenia in a historical atlas, or a very detailed one that gives regional names. It is somewhere toward the southeastern Polish border, and was once briefly independent, I think. Don’t sweat it, and watch some Marx Brothers movies like Animal Crackers.

I haven’t been feeling all that well lately, and I noticed that it does affect what I post, so I apologize for ruffling so many feathers and putting so many beaks out of joint.

The question of plagiarism is an interesting one. Composers often borrow from each other, but usually just fragments of this or that. Grandjany must have felt he transformed the material enough that it couldn’t be considered an arrangement or transcription, or something else. I never heard of Glissando before. Holywell or Morley are the only sources I know of in England.

I am getting much too busy now, putting the Harp Music Festival of Philadelphia together, so I won’t be able to post anymore, or shouldn’t, until this summer.

The question of recording time is complicated. Recording is the first step, editing is the second and more time-consuming and expensive, then production. I was offered a session by a good label, but they wanted me to record everything in two afternoons on consecutive days. I had to pass on it, because I knew I needed more time or more time between sessions. I think it takes several hours, perhaps eight or more to produce a one-hour cd. Studio costs vary considerably depending where you go. It could be anywhere from $40-$150 an hour, and 10-40 hours of editing time at the same rate. If you are signed to a major label, they may not charge for the recording time, but they may charge it against your royalties. It is much cheaper to record in Eastern Europe, but you have to get there, and bring your harp along. That’s what I know about recording.

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