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Well Carl, I certainly hope you haven’t forgotten your promise. Would you care to recommend any books that might elaborate on the biographies of some of the harpists of the last century? Good for entertaining summer reading and serious winter study.
Well, I got mentioned in the new one, but apart from chronology, I’m not sure how much was added. The historical parts are in some ways the best. It definitely should have said ex-library edition when you ordered it.
Zoraida, you would be surprised how difficult it is to get Spanish music in the United States. I have tried a few times to get Moreno-Buendia’s piece for harp and orchestra without luck, and also the solo by Montsalvatge, and others. UME used to be easy to find, but only certain titles, and I have them all, but could never get Danza de la Hoguera by Pittaluga. There seems to be a real distribution barrier due partly to language, perhaps. But then, many music publishers make it difficult to get their music rather than easy. So, I compose my own Spanish music.
I would like to go back to the Granados dances again to make more harp ensemble arrangements, but it’s a little discouraging when other people put out their stuff first.
I have made solo transcriptions of Granada and other pieces by Albeniz, and I have quite a lot edited, but not printed, pieces by Mompou (don’t work that well, though), Granados, Albeniz, a few other composers, and of course, Halffter, whom I have been playing for about 20 years.
There was a ridiculous piece by Sylvano Bussotti, now out of print, and I wish I had kept it, because it was graphically beautiful, but sonic nonsense.
I’m wondering, were these pieces performed using written scores? Do written scores exist for either of them?
In my opinion, you will do much better with gut and nylon strings. Having tried them recently on a familiar harp, I found that they are muted in quality.
But wait. We are what we play. That is performing. We embody the music and present it to the audience, and hopefully we, and only we, are responsible for our choices. Insomuchas, with competitions and all, that is rarely the case, it only means the performer is that much less themself. What a loss. The intimacy of playing music you have found in your
