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Hi Sylvia,
The orchestral version is also in Eb; it should be an exact match. I played this once with the symphonic band at the University of Georgia and, as I recall, I used my own copy which I’ve also played with the Atlanta Symphony, Dayton Philharmonic, etc. so you should be good to go. It’s a blast to play and don’t forget your picks for those glisses, esp. at the end.
Julie in Atlanta
Joan,
I saw this idea somewhere but can’t remember; wish I could give proper credit.
Get a long piece of 1/4″ wide black elastic – at least 5 feet. Drape it around your neck and decide what length you prefer, leaving a little slack. Then take a nail and poke a hole through the wide end (about 1/4″ towards the center) of each pick. Thread the elastic through and tie a double knot along the edge, trimming the ends if necessary.
I played “Carousel” this past weekend. There aren’t a ton of glisses but when there are, you have to go immediately into bass-chord-bass-chord/boom-chick-boom-chick. This way, I could play a gliss and just ‘drop’ the picks to play chords. The picks are then either on your lap or hanging at your side the next time you need them.
Other musicians are pretty curious. One time someone said it looked like a 21st century vestment. 😮
Julie in Atlanta
The melody Sting uses is the same as in Rutter’s “Dancing Day.” The harp accompaniment in that particular movment is just a few chords with some vocal cues, so you’d be better off with the vocal score. Still quite sparse, but at least something.
Off to another gig…
Julie in AtlantaHi Antoine,
I’d definitely recommend the Flothius as well.
The first time I played the Mozart we did Reineke for the first movement, Flothius on the second, then for the third we went back to Reinecke but started it about 2/3 of the way through where the flute starts to trill and the harp enters with harmonics.
I played it a couple other times and this particular flutist had already memorized the Reinecke, so that was fine.
The most recent time I performed it (with another flutist), we looked at Reinecke, Flothuis, Rota, Richter, Jongen, Previn, and John Thomas. They were all appealing but the Flothius was just short and sweet and seemed to fit the style of the work, so we used it for all three movements.
Julie in Atlanta
Hi Sidney,
I’ve played this piece 2 or 3 times and there’s nothing to worry about; just concentrate on listening to the other instruments. As I recall, the 32nd notes are more for effect. I tend to think in chords – measures 43-44: G, G, G, C/G, G, G7, Eb/G, G, etc.
At measure 150 (33 after the Vivace in 2/4), I play the bottom C’s with the left hand and the top two notes (Bb, E natural, Ab, F, etc.) in the right.
Again, with the 16th notes on page 3, 25 measures after the piu mosso, think in chords (C, C, F, F, etc.) I imagine you could leave out the 16th’s on beats 2 & 4; experiment and see what falls naturally in your fingers. For security’s sake, you could put the B-pedal in sharp position and put it back to Bb at the end of the page during the 31 measure rest.
On the last page, 17 measures after the piu mosso, you could probably leave out the bass line and play the E’s and F’s of the 2nd beats with your left hand. You might check a score to make sure those lower notes are covered, or you can probably tell by the recording.
Also, I slightly roll any chords throughout. Your adrenaline will kick in; it’s a fun piece to play…just think about Bugs Bunny!
Julie in Atlanta
Hi Vince,
These ensembles may be too big, but you might consider…
– Kurt Weill – Kleine Dreigroschenmusik/Little Threepenny Music
– Paul Hindemith – Concert Music for Piano, Brass and Two Harps
– Ralph Vaughan Williams – Serenade to Music (non-choral version)
– Duke Ellington – Night Creature
Julie in Atlanta
Once again, Carl, I totally agree with you.
In this particular piece I play the opening somewhat rubato, realistically between 63-72, but I tell organists 69-72. Otherwise, they can start to drag when they come in. They hear all these notes at D and think they have to wait for me, and I’m like, “Go, go, go!”
One of my peeves is when contemporary composers listen to the computer ‘play’ the part and then they just pick a stratospheric metronome marking. It can be technically possible to play but may not be musical anymore.
Julie in Atlanta
Hi Tiffany,
This is near and dear to my heart because it’s the first piece I learned on pedal harp and my mom is an organist, so we’ve played it as a duet many times. I played it two weekends ago with an organist for three services and will be doing it again with strings on the 21st.
Here are the tempo indications I use:
opening – 8th=69-72
letter D – 8th=72
letter E – 8th=80
letter G – 8th=72
letter I – 8th=56If it goes too fast it can sound a little frantic, but if you drag too much then it’s hard to get a nice flow on all those arpeggios. It might help to write chord symbols overhead, i.e. at letter D: G, b minor/D, e minor, G/B, etc. You’re not doing the melody anymore at D so that should relieve a little pressure.
Julie in Atlanta
Hi Erin,
I’ve only played 2 or 3 productions of Amahl so I’m not positive about what’s the usual, but I’ve played a gliss. Sort of a fast flurry of left, right, left, right, left right of descending lines. The pedals are D#, C-natural, B#, E-flat, F#, G-natural, and A-flat. In fact, in one production, I played the glisses at 34 and then rapped my knuckles on the soundboard four times for the Magi’s knocks at the door.
…I just checked the CD I have and the harpist plays glisses. This was the original NBC cast recording with Menotti directing and Thomas Schippers conducting, so I figure if that harpist glissed, I would as well!
Julie in Atlanta
Elinor,
Email me at harp@mindspring.com and I can help out.
Julie in AtlantaSo sorry; I was only trying to make a little joke that she was shocked. I just think that if you purchased anything – a bottle of Lafite-Rothschild, a box of Pop Tarts from Justin Timberlake’s garbage, Anna Nicole’s diaries, whatever – for a few hundred dollars and someone said it was worth tens of thousands of dollars (or over $500,000 for the diaries), you might at least say something like, “Wow.” It was sort of cute that she had no reaction. Could have been in the editing as well.
When I’m on a gig and someone asks me the price of one of my harps (I have a Venus Diplomat, Venus Protege and L&H Troubadour), I say, “How much do you think it costs?” And 9 times out of 10 they reply, “$1,000.” I usually say, “I wish,” and tell them the price range of harps and automobiles can be about the same, then they get a glazed look in their eyes.
I would guess the Naderman harp isn’t playable but there must be some amount of historical value, plus it was simply a beautiful instrument. I hope to hear some sort of follow-up. At the very least, it was cool to see a harp on the show.
