This is the debut album for this label for Korean harpist Meijer, who was adopted into a Dutch family. She has toured the world as a solo harpist as well as performing with leading symphony orchestras. In the note booklet she welcomes the chance to make the harp better known as a solo instrument, which she feels is still unknown to the wider audience.
Carlos Salzedo will be known to many collectors from the Mercury LPs he recorded. The French-American composer/teacher/performer created many original new sounds on the concert harp which he incorporated into his colorful compositions. His Variations on a theme in ancient style is the major piece of the three here. Salzedo dedicated it to a fellow student at the Paris Conservatory, and it has a very high level of technical difficulty. Caplet and Debussy were friends and Caplet helped with the orchestration of several of Debussy’s works. He only wrote two divertissments for solo harp, which are heard here: one in French style and the other in Spanish style.
Jacques Ibert, known for his many brilliantly-orchestrated and witty orchestral works, wrote his six harp pieces in the style of his teacher Faure, and he is thought to have learned details of writing gracefully for the instrument from the period’s most famous harpist, Lilly Laskine. The watery image which the harp is so adept at portraying is emphasized in most of the pieces. Their titles are: Matin sur l’eau; Scherzetto; En barque, le soir; Ballade, Reflets dans l’eau; and Fantaisie.
There are several solo harp SACDs available, all with excellent sonics. The concert harp is not an easy instrument to properly record, and seems ideal for the SACD medium. It was interesting to find the very best was the only one not multichannel – “Arabesque” on the FIM label. An Audite harp recital opens with the same Caplet works, and Ms. Meijer’s interpretation has greater dynamic contrasts and more snap.
– John Sunier
