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Jean-Baptiste CARDON (1760-1803)
Concerto for 2 Harps, Violin and Cello, op.21 [13:52]
Trio for Harp, Violin and Viola, op.9 no.1 [17:20]
Trio for Harp, Violin and Viola, op.9 no.2 [17:29]
Sonata for Harp with Violin, op.10 no.1 [13:28]
Sonata for Harp with Violin, op.10 no.3 [15:23]
Rachel Talitman (harp)
Tigran Maytesian (violin)
Erwin Liénart (violin)
Igal Braslavsky (viola)
Karolina Mariarz (cello)
rec. no information provided. DDD
HARP & CO. CD-5050-23 [77:30] 
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By the age of twenty Jean-Baptiste Cardon had gained European-wide
renown as a harp virtuoso and teacher. Many of his works, all
of which feature the harp, were dedicated to prominent aristocrats
in France, Russia and Britain. As harpist to the Russian royal
family between 1790 and 1793 he was paid an astounding three
million roubles. Besides his music, Cardon wrote an influential
method on harp playing, published in Paris in 1785 as his op.
12.
This release features a selection of his music - most of which,
unfortunately, was published undated. The five works are all
in two movements, the first an allegro in every case, the second
a rondo (variations in the first Trio), but the music is anything
but samey. Indeed, the reasons for Cardon's modern obscurity
are not clear - this is outstanding music from beginning to
end. It is often virtuosic - but not for its own sake, wonderfully
mellifluous and endlessly inventive. This is not only true of
the harp writing - the violin music in the two sonatas, for
example, is quite stunning, far more than mere accompaniment.
What a loss to music his early death was.
On the face of it, the accompanying booklet is attractive, with
its glossy pages and colour pictures. However, the notes are
very brief - a single side, with very little about the individual
pieces - and poorly edited, with punctuation all over the place
and the occasional silly typing error, such as: "Fleeing
the French Revolution in 1974, he..." The notes themselves
have been written by a non-native speaker of English, giving
a few gawky sentences like: "Young, he settled in Paris
by Marie Therese of Savoy".
Why do so many labels undermine the quality of their
products by not hiring a competent proof-reader? In Harp &
Co's case, even their word-processing is suspect - the back
inlay is a mess of misaligned columns, poor punctuation, spelling
mistakes (e.g. 'tropo' for 'troppo'), a suspect opus number
(according to New Grove, Cardon's op. 9 is a set of sonatas
for harp & violin accompaniment), and even a track timing
for a non-existent track! There is also, inexplicably, a complete
absence of any information about the performers - not even which
of the two named violinists is playing where. Buyers must content
themselves with a single photograph and resort to Google.
On the other hand, the recording is very good indeed - a pity
there is no mention of where or when it was made - with a superb
balance between soloists. The problems with the booklet should
not be allowed to detract from the fact that this is a very
good production generously crammed with excellent music beautifully
played.
Byzantion
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