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I believe Gladys Hubner gave the first performance with string quartet, and that version may have been written for her.
Okay, found 209, I’ve never seen a transcription of that one yet, and I would never pick that one for harp, with all those repeated notes. But, I guess some people like to play them.
Dewey Owens did a very fine transcription of K113, and I haven’t found 209 yet, but if they are paired, he probably did that one, too, and they are available to purchase.
I would use a recent edition, Kirkpatrick or later, such as Gilbert, so that the ornaments are correct. However, you must then adapt it to the harp as well. I’m not sure which Sonatas those are, off hand, but there are some good editions published, such as those of Dewey Owens.
The Competition may have a list.
Any flat, ordinary dolly could be used. However, having the harp elevated is dangerous, they can easily tip over off of a dolly, so you must have your hands on it at all times. They are easy to use, but you must be very careful with them.
I have done it with a trunk. You have to make sure what kind of aircraft is being used and that the freight door is large enough for the trunk to get in. The problem is in the local transfer people who pick it up and drop it off. If you can deliver it to the airport and pick it up, it is better, but they may not allow it.
That’s why we desperately need a network of concert-quality harps available for performance use in all major cities.
I don’t think we should assume people leave for negative reasons. It’s just as likely that they have become too busy. And there are so many, many more who read these forums than who post anything.
It’s also amusing how so many people who consider themselves devotees, call it the “Grandjanay” method. Salzedo and certainly his disciples did promote his method aggressively. He was very astute at promotion. It was a missionary zeal, born of real faith and belief in his vision and teachings. That is why it has lasted and is so concrete. But, yes, it was very French, and all of his texts were bilingual, though I have always wondered how many French harpists read them. The idea of launching a new, separate school is part of French teaching in general. The book, French Pianism, is very enlightening in this regard, and there are many more schools of French pianism than harpism, though there are many parallels between them.
She also worked with an expert, and chose the ornaments very carefully, to be both stylish, audible and playable on the harp. I found very little needing change in my revision. It is easy to look at a chart on paper and say all these notes need to be fitted in as a compound trill, but it is another thing to do it in terms of playing a modern harp. If one is going to make changes, I think one should do the whole job. It is fun, after all.
The harpists I know of who have performed it are Marcella DeCray, Nina Kellman, and Alice Giles, whom, I believed, worked on it with the composer. I looked at it, and it seems to me that it can be written in traditional rhythmic notation, and would, then, cease to be mysterious and be rather playable.
I was thinking of the nylon strings, back in the day of red and green strings, that had a banded surface for the low-register strings. Perhaps they were not wound, after all.
