Music for Solo Harp

Elizabeth Hainen (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 21, 2002)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Naxos
• ASIN: B0000666XV
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,236 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

classical music cd. general - music for solo harp.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

92 of 95 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gorgeous!, January 23, 2004

By 

Kevin Currie-Knight "Education Grad Student" (Newark, Delaware) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Music for Solo Harp (Audio CD)

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.

This recording is not to be missed, both for harp officionados and casual listeners.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful contemplative music., April 13, 2006

By 

C. B Collins Jr. (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Music for Solo Harp (Audio CD)

Elizabeth Hainen does a super job on this CD with a broad range of pieces composed originally for harp. There is enough diversity among the selections to keep the CD from becoming monotanous. I found the Impromptu Op. 28 by Hugo Reinhold to be a surprizingly delightful work with which I was unfamiliar prior to purchasing the CD. The selections range from classical works by Rosetti, intricate and complex, to more emotional romantic works by Liszt.

The solo harp has an odd immediacy and minimalism that can be quite meditative and pensive at times. Of course the solo harp can also be full of fluff and candy but there is little of that in this careful selection of music.

Louis Spohr's Fantasie Op. 35 has a meditative quality, in which the silence between the notes is tangible. I recomend the entire selection of music.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must have harp recording, July 7, 2002

By 

"eliharp" (Philadelphia, Music Critic) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Music for Solo Harp (Audio CD)

"Virtuosity and expression are not the first two traits most listeners associate with the harp. But Elizabeth Hainen makes a case for the instrument as something more than the angel-food cake of the orchestra in this budget release of transcriptions and works written especially for harp. Her fine, fast work in Liszt's Liebestraume brings to a harpist of considerably more skill than we ordinarily have a chance to hear from her principal harp chair in the Philadelphia Orchestra. Elias Parish Alvars' Serenade is a kind of bel canto for harp-fanciful ornamentation and strong melody-and Hainen treats it as such. She also gets a lovely bell tone. The best thing about Hainen's playing is the way she makes a melody sing. It's hard to imagine Glinka's Nocturne sounding more musical.