Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
That’s a great idea, Elenor, but it wouldn’t have worked on the teen I had recently. It’s a tough call.
That’s a great idea, Elenor, but it wouldn’t have worked on the teen I had recently. It’s a tough call.
I would practice up to two hours, and spend some time on your solos for work. I would recommend slow, easy exercises done with much repetition for as much relaxation and improvement of suppleness and control as possible. I would use LaRiviere and the Lawrence/Salzedo method exercises and repeat each one at least ten times. I would practice different types of arpeggios in four tempi,
I think she completed her doctoral studies. She also was offered the position of principal harp with the New York City Ballet Orchestra, but turned it down, as I heard it.
All I can say is that my teacher insisted that we buy the best standard harp, which is/was the Lyon & Healy Style 23 harp. I am so grateful that my parents listened because I have never been able to buy another harp, and it has served me superbly, and has become a truly great instrument. One cannot read the future, so I recommend following suit and buying the best possible harp now. They also retain their value the best, we were told, should you want to sell it later on. The style 100s can be as servicable, and the style 30. But you get the best quality of wood and workmanship on the more expensive harps, too. I would recommend a 23 or a Salzedo as the top choices.
It is best to go and choose the harp, but you can have someone do that for you, a harpist in Chicago. I believe if you speak at length with someone like Natalie Bilik at L &H, she will be able to pick out a suitable harp for you. But they also have European showrooms, one right there in Germany.
The 46-string harp will cover most repertoire, but not allow you to fully play such important works as the Hindemith Sonata and many others that require a 7th octave C, and others that require 0-octave g-sharps. I would not compromise, given that you seem serious about playing. It is worth the extra money.
I don’t like red woods. They seem to darken the sound too much. Red spruce, red maple, etc. I just want maple and spruce.
Lucile Lawrence always insisted on full-length performances of the Variations for as long as I knew her. The short version would only be done as required by competitions. She recorded the full-length version. Contrary to Sam’s opinion, I find the Barcarolle, Prelude, Fugue and Cadenza to be not only the most difficult, but the most exciting part of the piece by far. Miss Lawrence said to me that Salzedo regretted ever publishing the shortened ending because too many people opted for it. It was customary to do so in French publications for easiness. While the character of the variations shifts from technical to character with the Barcarolle and Prelude, no proper French Theme and Variations can be written without a fugue, classically speaking. And the meaning of ancien is old, but in the sense of classic, olden, traditional, not just elderly. Tchaikovsky used the word roccoco in his variations for cello.
Certainly, all the variations are printed in both editions. I use the Leduc edition. I dislike the altered harmonic notation. The revised edition has simplified tempi that, to me, do not work. The simplified fingerings aren’t really necessary and detract musically.
One more clue: the use of “harpege” and “harpeggio” in keyboard music. It means harpists were already indulging in complicated arpeggios at that time. Also, the piece by Mudarra, “”Contrahaze la harp da Ludovico” or something like that, is a depiction of the improvisation or playing by a famed Spanish harpists in the baroque period. That gives you an idea of what his playing was like.
Just as you say, when a library has a score and the music says harp or piano, it is catalogued under piano with no harp indication at all!
I looked at his discography and his recent cds. Not to turn off those who are interested, but there is so much literature for the harp, I see no reason to resort to gimmicks to fill a recording, and I am offended, in a way, when they say that he has somehow single-handedly revolutionised the way anyone sees the harp, I mean, they must be deaf, dumb and blind to think that just because he’s a guy or something else I don’t know of, it is suddenly a revelation. It’s just like they did to promote Markus Klinko in the 1990s, and it didn’t work too well then. But maybe they are just that ignorant about the harp in Europe. Maybe they have no exposure to the breadth of our literature or to male harpists (how quickly they have forgotten Maestro Zabaleta). More likely, it’s just silly public relations talk. I have been told they only want to hear the same old stuff on the harp, nothing new or different, no challenges, no broadening. Maybe that’s why so many cds have the exact same repertoire. What do I know about it?
