Alex Rider and Sir Arnold Bax

16/4/2013

A fascinating talk by Alex Rider for the UKHA about Sir Arnold Bax, the chamber music he wrote for harp, and the pioneering English harpists who premiered his works.

It is really interesting to hear about the harpists who were working in London in the early 1900's and were at the cutting edge of music of that time, and also playing on the latest instruments of the day (Erards and the very early Lyon and Healy's).

This 1 hour lecture is brilliantly researched and presented by Alex Rider, and is divided into 8 seperate videos on YouTube. Included in one video is a clip from the very first audio recording of Ravel's Introduction and Allegro conducted by the composer himself, and the very shockingly fast speed the Allegro was taken at. It wasn't a case of the music being speeded up to fit onto the limited time of the early records, the Allegro is the speed the composer wanted!

The English harpists discussed in the lecture include Miriam Timothy, Sidonie Goosens, Gwendolen Mason and Maria Korchinska.

Highly recommended viewing

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Why blog?

Well, I'm a bit of a harp nerd, and it's the quirky more unusual side of harping that usually catches my eye and ear!

You won't find posts about harp competitions, and the standard harp repertoire here.

You will, however, find posts about interesting harp items I have come across on the internet, as well as nerdy stuff like posts about harp strings and blisters etc.

I post lots of videos of interesting harpists from around the world and their projects, and finally, I post the very occasional bit of news about me.

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