Ellen Sejersted Bodtker plays the harp with a twang in her tone that makes the instrument sound almost like a giant banjo. This typical collection of original works and transcriptions features a mediocre performance of Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro, and a downright bad Debussy Danses sacrée et profane in which the Vertavo String Quartet contributes dry, listless, and rhythmically dead accompaniments (in any event the work truly needs the small string orchestra that the composer intended). The remaining original harp works (Pierné’s Impromptu-Caprice Op. 9 and Ibert’s Scherzetto) suffer from Bodtker’s wiry tone, while the various transcriptions (the usual Debussy items such as the Arabesque No. 1, The Girl with the Flaxen Hair, and La plus que lente; Ravel’s Pavane for a Dead Princess; Satie’s Gymnopédie No. 1) gain nothing from being heard in miscellaneous arrangements for harp solo or harp with violin or cello. The recording has the microphones much too close to the players, and particularly in the solo works Bodtker’s asthmatic heavy breathing adds an unwelcome counterpoint to the music on offer. It’s kind of hard to mess up a harp recital, but these players and engineers certainly have succeeded in that, if in little else.
