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Yes, you may request the publisher send you some pages, if they refuse to make the whole part available. I don’t know if they will or not, but perhaps they will feel like being helpful.
I loved playing the harp part in Walton’s Viola Concerto. I think he is the pre-eminent British composer of the 20th century, but sadly being overshadowed by Britten.Nicanor Zabaleta promoted himself for several years as a harpist who never performed transcriptions, but in truth, most of the time he played a great many of them.
I would as soon analyze a recording posted to youtube for my eyes only, I would think. I did that with someone from Malaysia, and it was apparently very helpful. But that is more like giving a master class.
I love how publishers clamp down on players copying parts, and only allowing excerpts, as if that was enough to prepare from. They are apparently afraid one might go to the trouble of acquiring all the parts in order to have a performance. If they sold copies of parts, they wouldn’t have to worry about losing rentals, would they?
While a pasted-on smile can easily look strained when things get difficult, one’s expression is a big part of your impact on the audience. One should practice with a mirror, and when you know a piece well enough to watch your face instead of your hands, it would be quite instructive. You should definitely smile through errors. It’s gracious and puts people at ease. I, personally, cannot stand a cold performer. Consider what you radiate.
There are many balance issues that must be addressed. Moreover, as a chamber concerto, the harp must project over all the instruments. So it should really be in front, with the instruments in a semi-circle behind, or a straight line. I prefer breaking up the strings because if they think as a quartet or section, they mass their sound, which drowns out everyone else. So I would try the flute and clarinet in the middle. It also depends which instrumentalist would lead that group. If the flutist is the dominant player, then that person should sit at the end. It also depends on the hall’s acoustics, so it is ideal to have someone listen in the seats and make adjustments. The instrumentalists could be in a circle, a line or a wedge, or a cluster.
What does not work is to have the harp facing sideways, behind the instruments, or in the middle but not forward. It is not a septet, as the others are fond of calling it. The harp has the solo passages, the cadenzas. It’s not a piece of chamber music in that sense. It is a concerto, it was written to show off the harp.
Not the flute, or strings, even if their parts are gorgeous. They should play rather delicately, as it is impressionist music. I heard a group play it on youtube like it was, well it was just loud. And Ravel should not sound loud.You can play Ravel’s Introduction et Allegro as a harp-and-piano duet, and Alice Giles did a wonderful recording with several interesting pieces on it. The Salzedo Sonata is a masterpiece, and the crowning jewel of that repertoire. It is very difficult, but not impossible, for the harp, anyway. It’s quite rewarding. I’m sure you’ll find more pieces in the catalogs. My program with piano was the Debussy Danses, the Salzedo Sonata, the Ravel, and the Berezowsky Concerto, with a few solos to open with.
With time and practice, you should be able to see more at one time, it’s how much you can take in and process. Eventually, you will be able to see a whole bar at one time, both hands.
I think it makes a lot of sense for you to look for smaller harps, particularly ones that are less tell. You want to be able to reach comfortably in all directions, and avoid long-term injury. You can play most music on a semi-grand harp. Even on a 44-string harp. The older harps had more smaller styles, too. You should try them out.
I would like to hear someone play the pieces for harp by Dean Roush. And the Sonate by Houdy, which used to be quite popular. I don’t think I’m ever going to commit to memorizing it.
I’ll just say you should have NO noticeable tension when playing the harp, ever. I would say that pivoting just transfers tension to the thumb.
I think I said this before, as she clearly stated the upper strings are NOT the issue! You can learn to reach an octave automatically where you can see the strings, so you can reach down from the one an octave above. With a lot of practice, this should become natural to you. I don’t know if it would help, but maybe a colored postit on the sounding board at the position of the string could guide you?
