Lavinia Meijer - Philip Glass: Metamorphosis & The Hours (2012)

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Lavinia Meijer - Philip Glass: Metamorphosis & The Hours (2012)

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My first encounter with Philip Glass in 2011 was truly one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. As a harpist I feel greatly privileged to have such new experiences – not only on stage, but alsobehind the scenes. Collaboration with composers is an important aspect of this, and new ideasnot infrequently arise through personal encounters and mutual inspiration. This was certainly thecase when I met Phil, who had never before heard his Metamorphosis live on the harp. After myinitial nervosity, tension soon melted away when I played the opening bars and he remarked “thatsounds beautiful!”.After this special encounter, I looked into other pieces by Glass that could be played on theharp. I had heard him play the Opening Piece from ‘Glassworks’ himself, a very beautiful piece inits seemingly unending interchange between the two hands. The film music for The Hours was amore tricky challenge. After examining the original score and the piano version I came to theconclusion that not all the movements could be arranged for the harp. But I managed to adapt sixof the eleven numbers, working them out with the sound of the orchestral version in mind. I hopethis CD will add an extra dimension to the performance practice of Glass’s most frequentlyperformed works.

Lavinia Meijer

If you’ve got insomnia, then this disc is for you. Philip Glass’ piano music is, how shall we say, placid at best. Arrange it for harp and it becomes positively tranquilizing. Not that this is a bad thing. Lavinia Meijer is a fabulous harpist, with a silky touch and a voluptuous timbre, and she’s stunningly well recorded in SACD surround sound (if that’s your pleasure). Besides, insomnia is serious, and it’s no insult to Meijer or Glass to suggest that this music might be put to good use, whether for relaxation or as a warm and comforting background to some other activity (a romantic dinner?).

Musically speaking all three works here sound pretty much the same: attractive sequences of chords endlessly repeated; brief melodic fragments backed by simple ostinatos; never anything disturbing. The Hours has movement titles that promise a certain level of excitement—The Poet Acts, I’m Going to Make a Cake, An Unwelcome Friend—but very little of note breaks Glass’ generally unruffled surfaces. Know what you’re getting and you’re sure to enjoy this beautifully played and recorded, if somewhat specialized, disc. Put it on and take a bubble bath.

Review by David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

This CD of transcriptions of Philip Glass' music for harp, created by Korean-Dutch harpist Lavinia Meijer herself, comes pre-approved by the composer, who heard Meijer playing the transcriptions of Metamorphosis (1988) and encouraged her to pursue further experiments in the same vein. You can see what he liked about the harp in his music. On one hand, it's a close substitute for a piano, which is involved in the originals of all three of these transcriptions. The excerpts from The Hours (tracks 7-12) were transcribed from a piano version of the original Nicole Kidman film soundtrack score, and unsurprisingly Meijer said that of the three works, that one gave her the most trouble. But the harp is not equivalent to the piano in Glass' textures. Instead, with its greater variety of sonorities and attacks, it adds a slight elaboration to Glass' basic structures. And this is where the sound must have caught the composer's attention: the kind of details Meijer adds to the music is the same as what Glass himself has added to his music over the years. The result is an unusually satisfying way to encounter the music of Philip Glass, even though he, unlike Arvo Pärt, has rarely been subject to transcription. Audiophiles may have their own reasons for acquiring this release; Channel Classics' Super Audio recording (sampled here on a good conventional stereo) does an astonishingly good job in capturing the tonal subtleties of the harp.

Review by James Manheim, Allmusic.com

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Lavinia Meijer - Philip Glass: Metamorphosis & The Hours (2012)

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Lavinia Meijer - Philip Glass: Metamorphosis & The Hours (2012)

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