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I thought I posted a video link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_zvmhjXZzI
I thought Jamet, it’s a blonde, but it seems to be a different orchestra than hers. She gets a lot of sound out of what looks to be an Erard. It didn’t remind me of Nordmann, but it might be her.I played Petrouchka in school and had no problem with it, given a few months of preparation. It is playable.
All chords on the harp are broken, either quickly, brisee, or arpeggiated, unless marked otherwise. In modern music you can choose to play them flat, but it will sound awkward and ugly (in some opinions). Chords are broken because it makes them easier to hear, is expressive, is musical tradition, they last longer, and it is unique now to the harp. Pianists used to break chords much more, and stopped doing it in the 1920s or so. Because it is tradition, you certainly do so in traditional music. Call it “period style” if you have to. Only the eighth-note fast-moving chords might be flat. And when you break them, the top note lands on the beat, not after.
I forget how many of them I had, but I never liked them or found them comfortable to play. If you love his music, then you may love them. I disliked it enough to no longer have his music, I think, which is rare, because I keep almost everything. It’s the kind of very peculiar British music, like Rubbra and others, that may only appeal to certain people.
Alexander Rudajev wrote a concerto for harp and the American Wind Symphony Orchestra, which was published by CF Peters, but seems to have left their catalog.
I would try to have it evaluated, if possible, before investing in repair, because it could be anywhere from $10,000 to perhaps $25,000 depending what is needed.
What matters is whether or not you’ll ever buy another harp. If you are certain you can later buy a concert grand, then a semi-grand can be useful. However, you will always lack that one string you just might need, and have less sound. People like to have smaller gig harps, but you can also view that as cheating the client by not giving them your best. But better you buy your concert grand first, just in case, and to give it more time to age properly before using it in public. I could have bought a 30 that had uneven sound, but I held out for having a 23 and got what became a magnificent instrument. And I have never been in the position to buy another harp. My wise first teacher, Frances Miller, made all her serious students order 23s. She was not pleased when we started ordering walnut finish 23s, and she was right because most of them were inferior in quality (in the 1970s).
If you can’t afford a gold harp, then a second-hand one, if semi-grand, could be a good buy, if in good condition. The recently built Salvi’s are far superior to any older ones, but I still prefer Lyon & Healy’s with their angelic treble register. Salvi’s are also heavier and harder to move.My wise teacher found that students who started with Suzuki method had more problems reading music than those who started with normal pedagogy. Her approach was to teach the student to see/place/name the note all at the same time, and it was effective. Try the ABC of Harp Playing. I don’t like the idea of involving the parents. The success of that totally depends on the kind of relationship the child and parents have. I prefer the idea of making music as being private, personal. I am not impressed by the Suzuki volumes of music.
That is a high tuning, it will increase the stress on your sounding board. If anything, I think lower tunings would be more “soothing.”
Your problem is practicing for only 45 minutes a day. That is not enough to condition your fingers and callouses. I would never schedule a performance after being away for a month. Maybe if you have everything thoroughly memorized and learned before you go, some of it will be there for you when you return. I think you need to be practicing closer to two hours a day to do any kind of performing.
It was published with a viola part, so if you don’t have one, contact Lyra to have them send you one.
