Laura Newell (1900-1981) first came to prominence in the 1930s and ’40s as the Cleveland Orchestra’s principal harpist. She also was a major player on New York’s vibrant freelance scene. Sometime in the mid-1950s she gave up performing to focus on teaching. In 1951 and 1953 she recorded several albums for the New York-based Philharmonia label run by cellist/composer Alan Shulman and his brother Sylvan. Producer Jay Shulman has now assembled this material for the first time on CD. The well balanced mono engineering still sounds fine more than 70 years later, as does Newell’s extraordinary harp virtuosity and intelligent musicianship.
In her original program notes, Newell discussed the myriad technical challenges characterizing Casella’s 1943 Sonata. Suffice it to say that she makes the third movement’s runs and roulades sound absolutely effortless. Her own arrangement of Respighi’s Notturno features such gorgeous delineation of foreground and background textures that you swear you are hearing two harpists on two distinct instruments. What variety of color, touch, and timbre she obtains in that composer’s Antiche Danze ed Arie, not to mention her stylish cantabile phrasing in Albert Zabel’s admittedly garish retooling of the harp solo from Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor.
Newell’s three collaborations with the justly legendary Stuyvesant Quartet are no less impressive. The musicians make the most of Malipiero’s subtle textural shifts, with each player knowing when to scale back or project forward in thicker contrapuntal episodes. In the dapper and witty Ibert Trio, I especially love how Newell’s resonant low single notes assiduously blend alongside Alan Shulman’s cello pizzicatos. Arnold Bax’s Harp Quintet finds this composer at the summit of his inspiration and creativity. Although there have been fine modern recordings of this masterpiece, none matches the present recording’s lithe unanimity, supple ensemble interplay, and sheer joy in music making. If you want great chamber music playing and consummate harp artistry in one handy package, look no further than this important and priceless release.
