Notes of a Harpist

Studio Recital "Etudes and Ensembles" March 18, 2012

This past weekend my students presented my favorite studio recital of the year: Etudes and Ensembles! I am a firm believer in having students work through the standard etudes, though not to performance level. Most of them hate the etude work, even while realizing its value: to focus on one technical element at a time, developing skills which transfer to the pieces. 

Once a year, my students have to polish an etude of their choice and perform it, with the music. The remainder of the recital is devoted to ensembles. I encourage the students to perform with a family member or a friend from school. The programs are always varied and interesting. 

 

 

 

Here is a copy of the program.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The harpists who participated in the recital. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The harpists with their friends and siblings who assisted on the program. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I took a moment to congratulate those students who placed in the Mid-Atlantic Harp Competition on March 3. From left to right: 

Elise Kolle, Kai-Lan Olson, An-Ya Olson, and Emma Rood. 

NSO Performs Bluebeard's Castle March 8 and 10

Last week was a musical highlight of the year for me. I love all of Bartok's music and Bluebeard's Castle is a masterpiece. The National Symphony did a concert version, meaning that the opera was not staged, but merely sung. But the lighting was wonderful. In the story, Duke Bluebeard and his wife Judith stop at his castle. There are seven doors and she insists on opening each. The first is a torture chamber, the second his military arsenal, the third his treasury and so on. The lighting was of the organ pipes behind the stage, and was blood red for the torture chamber. For the other doors there were different colors, but became infused with the red symbolizing the evil sources of the power and riches of Duke Bluebeard. Behind the final door are Bluebeard's former wives. 

The music is very powerful, and it was a thrill to be a part of it. The harp parts, unlike most of Bartok, are very easy, almost sight-readable. Most of my part (the second part) consisted of bisbigliandos to symbolize the glitter of the treasure and so on. 

The Washington Post gave a very favorable review, "Rarely has music fit a story so well: dark, exhilarating, threatening, turning corners reveal vistas of breathtaking beauty. Dramatic and episodic, furthermore, it plays to Eschenbach’s particular strengths. Perhaps no other conductor exults so much in the ability to make huge, gorgeous sound with some extra-musical significance. And Eschenbach’s small frame vibrated with the towering chords after Judith opened the fifth door and saw the majestic vista (in C-major) of the duke’s lands stretching out before her."

Here is a YouTube recording of that fifth door (the kingdom), which was my favorite part. There is no harp in that scene, but we had to muffle in the rests as the harps resonated so much!

 

Mid-Atlantic Harp Competition, March 3, 2012

This past weekend several of my students competed in the Mid-Atlantic Harp Competition. Two of my students competed at the Emerging Artist Level. The required piece was the "Glissando Waltz" by Mozart. Emma Rood, age 11, played "Reverie" by Hasselmans and won first place. An-Ya Olson, age 11, played "Chaconne" by Durand and placed third.

In the Young Artist Division the required piece was "Rumba" by Salzedo. Elise Kolle, age 16, played "Impromptu-Caprice" by Pierné for her choice piece and won first prize. Kai-Lan Olson, age 14, played "Berceuse" by James Bingham, and placed third. 

All four of these students are seasoned competitors. In January three of them competed at the Northern Virginia Music Teachers Association Concerto Competition in the Lower Strings Division (all strings excluding violin). Kai-Lan Olson competed at the intermediate level, playing the first movement of the Dittersdorf Concerto and placed third. Emma Rood performed the first movement of the Vivaldi Concerto in D in the Elementary Level and placed second. An-Ya Olson placed third in the Elementary Level playing the second movement of the Wagenseil Concerto. 

Elise Kolle entered the Bland Competition last week and placed second in the Alexandria District, playing the Pierné Impromptu-Caprice.

I'm very proud of these students!

 Winners of the Young Artist Division:

Left to right: Elise Kolle, Morgan Short (second place, student of Anastasia Jellison), Kai-Lan Olson, and Heidi Morey (honorable ment ion, student of Christine Mazza).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Winners of the Emerging Artists division:

L to R: An-Ya Olson and Emma Rood. Not pictured Juliana Gruver, second place, student of Melissa Dvorak. 

George Mason University

The big news this week is that I have accepted the harp position on the adjunct faculty of George Mason University. I look forward very much to building a harp department at this school! 

Shostakovich Violin Concerto with Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg

This past week I substituted as principal harp and had the thrill of playing the Shostakovich Violin Concerto with Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg. She is one of my favorite violinists and has a very intellectual approach to music without sacrificing passion. In this concerto she seemed able to display every color available to the instrument and it was a musical highlight of my life to hear her play three concerts, and to accompany her. 

The harp part is small, but very exposed, playing only in the first movement. The Washington Post review described the concerto as "Music infused with melancholy, it may be bitter or just rueful — with harp, celesta and tam-tam giving the violin’s lonely monologue an exotic, spectral quality." The harp has a couple harmonic passages in unison with the celesta, much like in the Fifth Symphony of Shostakovich. Then a wonderful rich luxurious chordal accompaniment to the violin solo. All of this is in the first movement and the rest of the concerto is without harp. 

A few performance notes: tune the bass C wire to D and the bass D wire to D-sharp. Then no enharmonics are necessary. Should one mark the harmonics? In my younger days I would have considered that "cheating." But then one day I was backstage chatting with Nicanor Zabaleta and he showed me his harp. He was playing the Ginastera Concerto and had marked all of the harmonics. If Zabaleta can do it, why can't I? Another consideration is that most of my practice is on a different harp from the harp I keep at the Kennedy Center, and all harps are a bit quirky in the placement of harmonics. What I did was mark the first one in each set as well as an A-sharp I didn't always get perfectly. I mark them with "white-out" but nail polish works just as well. 

One more thing: Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg used her music for this concerto. This did not in any way detract from her performance. At every performance the audience lept to their feet almost before the end of the last note. I think memorization is an important skill, and I wouldn't perform any concerto if I had not gone through the steps of memorization, thus thoroughly knowing the music. On the other hand, I always have the printed music in front of me. If you know the music thoroughly, I don't think it matters if you occasionally reference the printed page during the performance. 

Here is a YouTube video of David Oistrakh playing the first movement of the Shostakovich Violin Concerto, which was written for him. Note that in this video there are two harps playing. The score does indicate that the part is to be doubled, but, unfortunately, that rarely happens. 

 

 

 

David Crookston performs "Berceuse" by James Bingham and "Nataliana" by Deborah Henson-Conant

Here is a video of harpist David Crookston performing for the Woodbridge Music Club in Virginia. He chose two pieces for his program: "Berceuse" by James Bingham and "Nataliana" by Deborah Henson-Conant. 

James Bingham wrote the "Berceuse" in 2003, dedicating it to me. It was later chosen as a required piece at the Intermediate I Level (age 15 and under) for the National Solo Competition of the American Harp Society. 

Deborah Henson Conant, a jazz harpist from Boston, wrote the second piece, "Nataliana."

Enjoy this very fine performance of these two works!

 

Silke Aichhorn performs Willow Song from Rossini's Otello

In October 2010 I accompanied Frederica von Stade in a performance of the Willow Song from Rossini's Otello. You can find my post and a link to a recording of Ms. von Stade performing the aria with orchestra.

Silke Aichhorn wrote to me to tell me that John Thomas had done a solo harp arrangement of the work. Here is a YouTube video of Ms. Aichhorn's stellar performance of this piece!

 

Austrian Violinist Christa Schönfeldinger Plays the Glass Harmonica

The Washington Post ran an interesting article in this morning's paper discussing the history of the glass harmonica, invented by Benjamin Franklin and used in some of Mozart's compositions, as well as being featured as the solo instrument in Armonica, by Jörg Widmann, being performed in this week's subscription concert by the National Symphony Orchestra. The soloist is Christa Schönfeldinger. 

The NSO Performs "Armonica" by Jörg Widmann

This week the National Symphony Orchestra is performing a glass harmonica concerto, Armonica, by Jörg Widmann. I was tapped at the last minute to play the harp part and, while I found it very difficult, I think the work is stunning and the harp part effectively written, even if awkward to play. The harp, celesta, and piano form a group which adds glittering effects to the piece. The harp part consists of a lot of complex rhythms, mostly in the upper two octaves of the instrument. In the final minutes of the work, there are glissandi to be played with a guitar pick just below the tuning pins of the harp. The piano has coin glisses in the same section, sometimes with the harp and sometimes echoing it. It is an interesting effect over the other timbres of the orchestra. 

One caution to any harpist playing this work: there is a misprint in the harp part. The measure marked 94 is actually measure 97. There are no missing measures, the measure is simply numbered incorrectly. This caused some confusion in our first rehearsal. 

Anne Midgette of the Washington Post gave the concert a very favorable review, describing Armonica as, " a 16-minute feast of what appeared to be sound effects, built on the ubiquitous idea of a musical work growing from nothing into a cascade of sound and dying away again."

Here is a recording of Armonica:

  

Christmas Concerts with the Denig Studio, December 3 and 10, 2011

On December 3 and December 10 my students joined forces with the studio of Lynne Denig to perform a delightful program of Christmas songs. This is something we have done for several years and on March 24, 2012, we will be presenting a session at the ASTA Conference in Atlanta, discussing the format and logistics of putting together such a program. At the same conference I will be giving master classes for local harp students. 

This year our Christmas concert featured the premier of an arrangement of "What Child is This" by Mary Ann Rich, for our group. We have also premiered an arrangement by James Bingham of "Suo-Gan." Several of our students will be joining us in Atlanta and a performance of these works will be part of the presentation.

The top photo is of the December 3 performers and the second photo was taken at the December 10 performance. At this time of year every one is busy with orchestra concerts and ballet performances so we find it necessary to program two dates.

Here is the program:

-From the Studios of Elizabeth Blakeslee and Lynne Denig-

 

A Christmas Celebration

 

Calvary Christian Church

Burke, VA

 

December 3 and 10, 2011

3:00 PM

 

Prelude

 

Carol of the Bells................................................... Ukrainian, arr. Gist

 

Prophecy

 

O Little Town of Bethlehem.............................................. L. W. Redner

 

Birth of the Christ Child

 

Angels We Have Heard on High................................... Traditional French

*What Child is This?...................... Traditional English, arr. Mary Alice Rich

Carol Medley 2............................................................ arr. J. Weaver

(He is Born; Unto Us a Boy is Born; Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella)

Silent Night...................................................................... F. Gruber

 

Gifts for the Christ Child

 

We Three Kings............................................................ J. H. Hopkins

 

Reassurance

 

A Christmas Lullaby.................................................... James Bingham

Joy to the World........................................................... G. F. Handel

Carol Medley 1............................................................ arr. J. Weaver

(Good Christian Men, Rejoice; Lullay, Thou Little Tiny Child; O Come, Little Children)

 

Living the Message

 

Good King Wenceslas....................................................... J. M. Neale

 

Carols of Christmas Cheer

 

Winter, from “The Seasons”.......................................... Antonio Vivaldi

    II. Largo

Skaters Waltz............................................................ Emil Waldteufel

O Christmas Tree.................................................. Traditional German

Deck the Halls.............................................................. Old Welsh Air

Jolly Old Saint Nicholas..................................................... Traditional

Jingle Bells................................................................... J. Pierpoint

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer...................................... Johnny Marks

Frosty the Snowman................................................ Nelson and Rollins

Go Tell it on the Mountain.................................. Traditional, arr. Curcio

We Wish You A Merry Christmas................................. Traditional English

 

Denig Studio

 

                     Violin                                                   Viola

  Dec. 3                                                                     Dec. 3

Leah Brown                                                            Elisabeth Clymer

José Justiniano                                                      Emily Dettbarn                

Casey Lim                                                              Heidi Weston                           

Rachel Steiner                          

Nathan Wong

 

  Dec. 10                                                                  Dec. 10

Karen Adjei                                                            Hanna Dickerson

Caleb Dudte                                                           Amy Hoang

Jin Hee Park                                                          Emily Kubik

Bethany Schimkus                                                  Allison Slomski

Kayla Shim                                                             Molly Wise

Andrew Yang                                      

Blakeslee Studio

 

  Dec. 3                                                                     Dec. 10

Amy Lim                                                                Shirley Burt           

Helen Lim                                                              Marjorie Howard

Kaitlyn Miyamoto                                                   Erika Manemann

Emma Rood                                                           Katherine Nelson

Darby Rupp                                                            Tégan Péntek

                                                                             Linh Smith

 

*World premiere of a work composed for our ensemble.

 

Please join the performers in the church’s fellowship hall (downstairs) for cookies and punch following each performance.

 

Special thanks to Calvary Christian Church for the use of the church facilities, and to parents and family members for their thoughtful support of the performers.

Happy Holidays!