The collection of 20th century harp pieces gathered here is impressive for its stylistic variety, musical invention, and compositional substance. All of the featured works exploit the harp’s self-contained versatility and range, as well as harpist Claudia Antonelli’s masterful virtuosity. Play the gentle, toccata-like finale of Germain Tailleferre’s delightful three-movement sonata and hear how the intwerweaving lines appear to emerge from separate instruments. Note also the beautifully controlled soft arpeggios and tricky repeated notes in the second movement of Britten’s Harp Suite (I believe this is Antonelli’s second recording of this work for Arts Music), or the declamatory authority and carefully scaled dynamics Antonelli brings to Bussotti’s gestural style.
Both the Hindemith and Krenek sonatas boast a lyrical accessiblity not always found in these composers’ knottier chamber works. Antonelli’s command of Berio’s extended techniques in Sequenza II compares well to Frédérique Cambreling’s slower, suaver version on DG. Discerning harp afficionados may prefer Isabelle Moretti’s lighter articulation and additional color in the Hindemith and Tailleferre (together with Harmonia Mundi’s more robust engineering), to say nothing of Osian Ellis’ more relaxed authority in the Britten Suite written especially for him. Nevertheless, such considerations take nothing away from Antonelli’s artistry in this excellently curated, highly recommendable release.
