This is one of my occasional reviews of an audio recording.
The music in question is a fascinating and diverse programme of music for flute and harp entitled A Net of Gems. The performers are respected and well-known artists in the Canadian music scene: flautist Suzanne Shulman and harpist Erica Goodman.
The recording takes its evocative title from a work written especially for these two musicians. More about that anon.
Throughout the recital, Suzanne Shulman and Erica Goodman play with skill and care, and with a flair which is their special trait as musicians.
The first work on the disc is the Casilda-Fantaisie, by Franz Doppler and Antonio Zamora. Unknown or little-known works like this play a sizable role in the repertoire of many solo musicians beyond the ubiquitous piano and string instruments. This Fantaisie, like so many of its kind, presents a virtuoso elaboration on the themes of an opera by other hands, and is designed as a showpiece for its creators who were (no surprise) respectively the principal flautist and harpist of the Court Opera Orchestra in Vienna in the second half of the 1800s.
The opera itself is completely unknown today but on the evidence of this paraphrase it must have been a tuneful work indeed. Shulman and Goodman make an excellent case for the piece, in all its technical elaboration, tossing off scales, runs, and arpeggios with aplomb and making the whole actually sound musical -- which isn't always easy with nineteenth-century opera paraphrases. A delightful curtain-raiser for the entire concert.
The second work, Narthex, was written in 1971 by French composer and harpist Bernard Andrès. The term refers to the area inside the door of a church, the lobby, so to speak, before you enter the church sanctuary proper. Andrès had visited some of the sombre old Romanesque churches in Brittany before writing the piece. Although the music begins in a quasi-Ravel mode, the harmony soon ventures farther afield. A central section shifts dramatically to some most unusual sound effects created by the musicians by doing things which their instruments are traditionally not supposed to do. I couldn't help wondering if these passages were directly inspired by some particularly frightful gargoyles.
The flute then enters with a slow, mournful tune low in the instrument's range, a particular highlight of Shulman's performance in this work. The piece continues in an improvisatory style which is very much of our time. A return to a more rapid tempo features more melodic writing for the flute while Goodman returns to some very rapid sound-effect passages on the harp. The final flute figures evoke birdsong.
The centrepiece is the world premiere recording of David Occhipinti's Net of Gems, composed in 2020 specifically for Shulman and Goodman. Although plainly a contemporary work, this piece is much more lyrical in style overall than Narthex. Particularly fascinating are the passages in which Shulman and Goodman are both playing arpeggios at top speed, but not the same ones and not always moving in the same direction. The music here evokes the sparkle of gems, rapidly moving and turning in the sunlight.
This was the one place in the recording where I wished there was a video equivalent. Although I'm no expert, I have a strong sense that Goodman's feet must have been flying up and down on the harp's pedals to accommodate what sounded like key changes in every bar. The work then ends with slow rising and falling passages in the two instruments.
The longest work on the programme is the Fantaisie, Op. 124 (originally for violin and harp) by Camille Saint-Saëns. The violin part is adapted for the flute by Hideo Kamioka, with further adaptation by Suzanne Shulman.
A slow introduction leads into a first main section of lyrical melody on the flute with rippling figures and glissandi in the harp -- a melody which eventually takes on a dance-like character, and certainly dances in the hands of Shulman and Goodman. The heartbeat of the work comes in a slow and stately passacaglia, with the harp presenting the four-bar bass line and the flute elaborating the melodic texture. After a handful of variations, the harp also takes it in turn to elaborate and supplement the bare bass figure. It's a fascinating style and texture to find in a chamber work which doesn't use the piano. The music then moves into a more melodic final section which brings the piece to an end in moderate tempo. Like so much of Saint-Saëns' music, this Fantaisie doesn't tread new ground but still manages to present some intriguingly original effects.
The final piece, a shorter "encore" if you like, is the Gnossienne # 5 by Erik Satie, which the artists play from the original piano text. Satie's piece lies very well for the two instruments, and gives Shulman and Goodman a chance to build longer lines and phrases than can be found in much of this program. This cool, gentle music sets a quiet end to a truly unique recital.
Anyone who enjoys the light, liquid tones of the flute and harp in partnership need not hesitate as this recording will provide great pleasure to the hearer.
The compact disc, and the digital download, can both be ordered from the Bandcamp site at this link:
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