This Curious Harp
20th Century British Music for
Solo Harp
Eleanor Hudson (harp)
rec. June-July 2020, St Saviour’s Church, Wildboarclough, Macclesfield
MPR 110 [68:33]
Spanning a century of composition for solo harp, this imaginatively programmed disc covers Bantock to Salzedo via a number of engaging halts and pathways. All the repertoire is British and there are numerous disc premieres to enjoy.
Bowen’s Arabesque was written in 1913 but not published until two decades later. Nevertheless, it was taken up by two of the leading British harpists of the time – premiered by Miriam Timothy and soon after by Gwendolen Mason to whom it was eventually dedicated. It’s a work of typical elegance and refinement that progresses in little seamless sections and is filled with the spirit of joy. Bantock’s Sapphic Dance, his Dramatic Dance No 2, was written slightly earlier and intended to be heard as an accompaniment for a dancer. It’s the largest scaled single piece in the programme at over eleven minutes but so sinuous and evocative is the writing, and so dextrous Eleanor Hudson’s playing, that the ear is drawn to the constant melodic incident, the dramatic arpeggios and the sense of space that Bantock is confident enough to encode in the work.
There are two pieces by Stephen Dodgson, a Ballade that follows with great flair and the
Fantasy, a much earlier work dating from 1952, which is well pointed and written for Maria Korchinska. Leonard Salzedo’s late Tonada, composed a couple of years before his death, has tremendously refined textures, flowing lyricism, and a captivating, repeating dance melody that embraces his Sephardic origins. Ian Parrott’s Soliloquy and Dance (1995) offers gentleness contrasted with a deliciously vital rhythmic brio, all in the space of four minutes, whilst Thomas Pitfield’s
Sonatina is also crafted into two sections. There’s a brief, gracious Allegretto followed by a taut, rather delicious sequence of variations on a Russian Vesper Hymn (Pittfield’s wife was Russian-born).
Rather more withdrawn is Geoffrey Burgon’s Three Nocturnes, all of which are predominantly slow and meditative though he does allow a flourish or two along the way. This is a very different Burgon
from the composer of Nunc Dimittis and Brideshead Revisited, let alone Life of Brian. Hamilton Harty’s Spring Fancies, two Preludes, was probably written for Miriam Timothy (she was prominent as the LSO’s harpist) as she played the piece a number of times before the work’s publication in 1915. There’s bardic warmth and beauty here, and the second of the preludes sounds notably tricky to get around. Needless to say, Hudson surmounts all difficulty with aplomb, drawing out its verdant lyricism at every stroke.
Fine annotations and recording seal this venturesome disc to great advantage.
Jonathan Woolf
Contents:
York BOWEN (1884-1961)
Arabesque, Op 20, No 1 (1913) [8:35]
Stephen DODGSON (1924-2013)
Ballade (1969) [6:31]
Fantasy for Harp (1952) [7:31]
Leonard SALZEDO (1921-2000)
Tonada, Op 139 (1997) [5:21]
Ian PARROTT (1916-2012)
Soliloquy and Dance (1995) [4:06]
Thomas PITFIELD (1903-1999)
Sonatina for Clarsach or Harp [5:57]
Geoffrey BURGON (1941-2010)
Three Nocturnes (1974) [6:58]
Hamilton HARTY (1879-1941)
Spring Fancies, two Preludes (pub 1915) [11:30]
Granville BANTOCK (1868-1946)
Sapphic Dance (Dramatic Dances, No 2) (1909) [11:26]
