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Marshall McGuire (harp)
Geoffrey Collins (flute)
Patricia Pollett (viola)
McGuire is a formidable asset to the contemporary music scene in Australia, and is the only harpist who specialises in both baroque harp and all forms of modern music. This CD is a best-seller in the catalogue. |
CONTENTS
| Peggy Glanville-Hicks | Sonata for harp |
| Helen Gifford | Fable |
| Barry Conyngham | Awakening |
| Jennifer Fowler | Threaded Stars |
| Graeme Koehne (arr. McGuire) | To His Servant Bach ... |
| Peter Sculthorpe | Night Pieces |
| Peter Sculthorpe (arr. McGuire) | Into the Dreaming |
| Peter Sculthorpe (arr. McGuire) | From Kakadu |
| Barry Conyngham | Streams for flute, viola & harp |
REVIEWS
Marshall McGuire is a leading Australian harpist with a special interest in (and talent for) new or unfamiliar music. On this Tall Poppies disc he begins with an admirably shaped and coolly poised sonata for harp by the late Peggy Glanville-Hicks and a slightly sinister Fable by Helen Gifford. Barry Conyngham's Awakening is a work in seven short movements concerned with contrasts of stasis and activity and marked by colourful harp effects. Conyngham's Streams is an atmospheric piece for the same instrumentation as Debussy's sonata for flute, viola and harp, and also features Geoffrey Collins (flute) and Patricia Pollett (viola).
Peter Sculthorpe's evocative Night Pieces, written for pianists, work perhaps even better in the composer's arrangement for harp; and McGuire has arranged two other Sculthorpe pieces, Into the Dreaming (originally for guitar) and From Kakadu.
Another McGuire arrangement is of Graeme Koehne's elegantly planned To His Servant Bach..., a kind of chorale prelude suggested by thoughts about the end of Bach's life. Jennifer Fowler's Threaded Stars uses changes of tempo and rhythm as an equivalent for star patterns. McGuire's playing serves his composers with an almost ideal blend of technical sureness and interpretative sympathy.
R. C.
Sydney Morning Herald 1996
This CD by Marshall McGuire will be a very pleasant surprise for anyone unfamiliar with the potential of the harp in contemporary music. There are some astonishing sounds on this album.… Marshall McGuire has compiled a selection of works that is consistently interesting; his playing is sensitive throughout. This CD will always demand attention with its range of unusual sonorities.
Real Time. January 1996
The Sonata by Peggy Glanville-Hicks is confident and fluent; its astute variety of coloration and not at all confronting. The more austere Fable by the Melbourne composer Helen Gifford is concise but unfailingly interesting, making the harp sound like an exotic guitar. Threaded Stars by Jennifer Fowler… is almost a fantasia in its alternation of quiet reflectiveness with glassy swirls and trills – the stars, presumably.
John Carmody
Sun-Herald February 1996
Sensitive and rich virtuoso performance, September 14, 1998
Reviewer: A music fan from Australia
The sonata for harp evokes a sense of serenity and tranquillity. The rhondo is especially delicate and refined. The processional is joyful and celebratory! Mr Marshall McGuire has presented a pure rendition of listening pleasure!
Amazon Customer Review
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