Nina Schlemm, Harfe Solo

Music for Solo Harp (Elizabeth Hainen) [2002]

1. LISZT: Liebestraume, No. 3 Nocturne in A flat, arranged by Henriette Renié
2. DONIZETTI: Lucia di Lammermoor, Act I Scene 2, arranged by A. Heinrich Zabel
3. GLINKA: Nocturne in E flat major
4. RHEINHOLD: Impromptu in C sharp minor, Op. 28, No. 3, arranged by E. Hainen
5. CHOPIN: Etude No. 13 in A flat major, Op. 25, No. 1, arranged by W. Posse
ROSETTI: Sonata No. 2 in B flat major
6. 1. Allegro assai
7. 2. Romance
8. 3. Rondeau
9. SPOHR: Fantasie in C minor, Op. 35
POSSE: Etudes
10. 1. Etude No.2
11. 2. Etude No.7
12. PARISH ALVARS: Serenade, Op. 83
13. LISZT: Etude No. 3 in D flat major, “Un Sospiro”, arranged by Henriette Renié

Elizabeth Hainen – Harp

For a long time, I've loved music for the solo harp. For a long time, too, I've (please forgive me) not been a fan of the market of solo harp recordings. Why? Honestly, it comes down to the selection of peices. That is, too many solo harp records either tend to fall into a mode of ultra-glissando bombasticness, or are simply trying to be too 'pretty' and end up instead as pretty boring.

That is no more. This CD is neither. We have a wide range of classical and romantic pieces here. Instead of the 'showpiece' mentality of relying way too much on glissando heavy arpeggiation, these peices are very tasteful and melodic, all the while being well suited for harp (both single- and double-action by the way). Second, while a few of these peices are quite pretty and charming, there is enough of a mix here to keep things from being 'too' polite and ornament-like.

The show stealers? My favorites here are Rosetti's sonata 2 (and Rosetti really is a great classical period composer so you should check him out anyway), both Liszt arrangements, and Willhelm Posse's etudes. But as I said before, these peices range from a fantastically tense harp solo from a Donizetti opera to a Chopin etude. Quite diverse, and all of the pieces have a different beauty to them.

I've not even mentioned Elizabeth Hainen yet. What is most striking is that while these pieces cover such diverse territory, she plays each in a style completely appropriate to it. The Rosetti, for instance, she plays in the 'pretty' and lyrical fashion one would expect from a classical period etude, while the Liszt 'Sospiro', she plays with the grace and out-and-out emotionalism that Liszt himself likely would have wanted. Long and short, she keeps it appropriate at all times. --- Kevin Currie-Knight, amazon.com

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