June 23, 2021

  • Quest for Harp Music

     

    Quest
    Elizabeth Remy Johnson, harp.
    Albany Records TROY 1863
    Total Time:  61:16
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

    Emily Remy Johnson’s new album Quest takes its title from the opening work on the album.  Composed by Niloufar Nourbakhsh in 2013, the piece has a tenuous exploration of traditional harmony with some subtle dissonance and interesting harmonic diversions.  It is one of just several modern works for the instrument featured on this new release from Albany Records.  Those pieces make up the second half of this ample program that highlights work by female composers.

    The first portion consists of new arrangements by Johnson of some unique piano literature.  First is Cecil Chaminade’s delightful Aubade (1911) which keeps us in slightly modern to late-Romantic style.  It and  D’un vieux Jardin (1914) provide fine bookends for a series of brief pieces from the period.  Amy Beach’s A Hermit Thrush At Morn (1921) is another unique miniature exploring bird songs the composer heard on a trip in New Hampshire.  It is a quite delicate little work.  The center piece, and rather wonderful discovery are the Cinq Morceaux (1894-1927) by Mel Bonis (1858-1937).  She was a promising student invited by Franck to study at the Paris Conservatory, but her parents pulled her from her studies to avoid a developing affair with another student.  Married off, she eventually returned to composing and the selection here demonstrates her brilliant harmonic and melodic gifts in five stunning works.  This is followed by Fanny Hensel’s Melodie (1846) and the somewhat familiar little Romance (1853) by Clara Schumann.  Each of the works here are quite engaging and performed brilliantly by Johnson whose interpretations and transcriptions feel fairly faithful to the original keyboard works, though they tend to take on a more magical, reflective quality.  As a transition, Johnson has chosen a little folk song to wrap up the portion of the album (Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies).

    Four works for harp help round off the album to further illustrate the musical capabilities of the instrument and its versatility while maintaining a folkish theme.  The first of these is a reflective piece by Katie Agocs that explores an Appalachian folk song, “John Riley”.  An excellent programming transition from the traditional folk song that precedes it.  In Sally Beamish’s Pavane (2016), we are back in the world of reflection and post-Impressionism recalling the earlier works on the album.  The qualities of Scotchish folk-harp music inform Freya Waley-Cohen’s Skye (2017) which transports the listener to the isle.  The final piece, Spindrift (2008), is inspired by the legend of Odysseus and Leukothea.  The work by Johann Selleck is a more substantial miniature tone poem for harp.

    Quest is an album of often subtle harp work that provides a window into the beautiful qualities of the instrument with the more contemporary works all maintaining an accessible musical language.  The arrangements of piano literature work quite well here in a collection of fairly restrained pieces that invite reflection.  How the album is sequences also shows a great deal of thought that helps move well through the program allowing listeners to make additional connections to the narrative aspects that inspired the composers represented.  The album is a bit on the quiet side which makes for a relaxed listen of quite compelling music worth hearing and exploring further.