Judy Loman - Harp Showpieces [CD]

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Music for HarpWho better to showcase the possibilities of the harp, an oftenmisunderstood instrument, than harpists themselves? All of the composers onthis recording were and, in the case of Lynn Palmer, are, fabulous harpiststhemselves. Spanning three centuries, this music shows how innovation incomposition and technology changed the harp's place in society and how thecomposers of the day managed to meet these demands.The harp and its musical world changed: from the eighteenth century,when patronage was the only means of survival; through the nineteenth centurywith the Paris salons dictating musical fashion; to the turn of the lastcentury when winning the Premier Prix at the Paris Conservatoire virtuallyguaranteed a successful solo career: to today where the harp has arrived as asolo instrument of enormous power and popularity. The instrument itself hasalso changed. As music became more and more chromatic, there was a need for theharp to be able to execute all of the new sounds. Various methods were devised,starting from a single row of strings, to a double, triple and evencross-strung harp (two intersecting planes of strings), back to a single strungharp - with the addition of seven pedals. Developed by the Erard Co. of Francein 1810, this pedal mechanism enabled a harpist to produce three pitches on asingle string. Called a double-action pedal harp, it is still in use today:Judy Loman plays a Lyon & Healy style 30 on this recording.Alphonse Hasselmans (1845-1912) was appointed harp professor at theParis Conservatoire in 1884. He created the French school of harp playing andtaught it to many talented harpists, including Marcel Tournier, MarcelGrandjany, Henriette Renie and Carlos Salzedo, all of whom were to have aprofound influence on the evolution of the harp. Hasselmans was a notoriouslystrict and demanding teacher: copious amounts of music had to be memorizedevery week. Students were taught in a group setting, with competitive motherswatching from the sidelines, praying their child would not be the one whosemusic Hasselmans threw to the floor in a rage. Most of his Paris Salon-stylecompositions were written to further the technique of his students and LaSource was no exception. The music depicts a rushing stream using fast arpeggiosthroughout. Hasselmans was a very large man who dwarfed his instrument. Withhis huge hands he was able to produce the most beautiful tone, full and mellow,which was admired and copied by his students.John Parry (?1710-1782) was the most famous Welsh harpist of his timewho, remarkably, was blind. As there are many famous musicians named JohnParry, it is helpful to differentiate this one by his Bardic Title, known inWelsh as Parri Ddall. With the Williams Wynn family as his patron untilhis death, Parry was expected to play for the family's guests as well as fortheir dancing, yet he was encouraged to pursue his very successful solo careeras well. Handel greatly admired Parry's playing and in 1741, Parry performedHan

Marcel Grandjany - Rhapsodie

Alphonse Hasselmans - La Source

John Parry - Sonata No.2

Marcel Tournier - Images

Sophia Corri Dussek - Sonata

Carlos Salzedo - Scintillation

Elias Parish Alvars - Introduction, Cadenza and Rondo

Lynn Palmer - Classical Suite

John Thomas - The Minstrel's Adieu To His Native Land