RECORDER & TRIPLE HARP

I perform in a Duo with the talented and versatile triple harpist Robin Ward.

"..the recital was BRILLIANT!..."   "...a lovely varied programme.."

Gill Dury  October 2014

ROBIN WARD

is a truly unique musician. He performs on his own hand-crafted instruments and is one of only a handful of people who play the triple harp professionally in the world. Originally from New Zealand, Robin is emerging as a soloist and is currently based in the United Kingdom. Over his career he has played with various orchestras and ensembles. Robin independently released his first solo CD: No Pedals Attached in 2009 and is currently working on his second. As well as playing the harp Robin is also an accomplished instrument maker and harp teacher. For more information you can visit his website: www.robin-ward.com or e-mail him on robin@robin-ward.com.

                                  Music by the Commons
                                   18th October 2014

The recorder, a wooden tube with a few holes, the harp, a few strings in
a wooden frame, these are two of the oldest musical instruments known to
man. Yet for all their apparent simplicity these musical instruments had been
developed to a high degree of sophistication and importance during the Baroque
era. The recorder now had a conic bore and played chromatically over more than
2 octaves, the harp had developed into a triple harp with three rows of string
but still without any pedals. And these two instruments in the hands of two
capable musicians gave us an evening of exciting music throughout the ages
from medieval times through to contemporary compositions.
The evening started with an early baroque piece by G.B.Fontana, his \Sonata
Prima", played here on a tenor recorder and triple harp. The instruments
sounded well together, neither was dominating, instead the musicians seemed to
feed o each other and the structure of the piece was brought out very clearly.
This was followed by C.P.E.Bach's Sonata H 542.2 played on treble recorder
and harp, and again, the two instruments were beautifully balanced, which allowed
the listener to concentrate on the characteristics of the three movements. In
particular, the Adagio of the second movement was played with great variation
of tone and tenderness, and so provided a good contrast to the strong liveliness
and vivacity of the rst and last movements.
Next came J.Dowland's \Pavan Lacrimae" with variations by J. van Eyck.
The lute accompaniment by J.Dowland had been adapted for harp by Robin following
the well established practice in those days of adapting music to whichever
instruments were to hand.
The program then moved to the 19th and 20th centuries: In the second half
of the 19th century the Spanish composer F.Tarrega with his piece \Capricho
Arabe" had raised the guitar from its amateur status and established it as a
serious concert instrument. Robin Ward played his adaption for triple harp.
Then followed Ravel's \Piece en form de Habenera", Debussy's \Syrinx" and
Ibert's \Entr'acte". One does not expect to hear pieces by these composers in a
recorder concert, but their adaptations for recorder and harp certainly impressed
me; in particular the rhythmic quality of Ravel's piece came across very clearly
and Ibert's \Entr'acte" was performed with vigor and virtuosity.
After the interval we started again with Renaissance pieces, Ortiz' \Recercada
Primera" and \Recercada Segunda" separated by a short piece played on
harp alone. Andrew used a strong Renaissance recorder for his pieces.
These were followed by Handel's \Suite in D minor" played on harp alone.
Robin had combined the 9th and 12th movements and adapted them to the
harp, a practice that was quite common in Baroque and earlier times.
Andrew then brought us back to medieval times with three anonymous pieces,
\Belicha", \Lamento di Tristano" and \La Rotta", in addition to his usual
virtuosity and rhythmic playing Andrew provided his own drone by stamping
his feet and the modern technique of singing into the recorder which worked
well for the raucous Rotta.
To finish  we were treated to 2 tangos by A. Piazolla, \NightClub 1960"
and \LiberTango", in which Andrew used modern recorder techniques such as
sputato, flutter tongue and glissandi to great e ect.
The well deserved applause at the end of the concert resulted in an encore,
a lively Jazz piece, \Dorian Toccato" by Guus Haverkate which left me going
home humming the melody.
What made the concert so enjoyable and special for me was the variety of
music we heard ranging in periods from medieval times through Renaissance,
Baroque, Classical and Romantic, all the way to the 21st century, and covering
so many di erent styles too, raucous medieval music, sonatas, modern dances,
and Jazz to name but a few. We were certainly shown the versatility of these
two humble instruments, the recorder and the harp.
                                                             Ina Dau

Our Recital in May 2014.You can see and hear certain pieces on YouTube:

C.P.E Bach:http://youtu.be/yLlx7c4ivUA

Fontana:http://youtu.be/Ahi6aZOSPfg

Piazzolla Cafe 1930: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC6CceXT1dg

Castello:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70JDKk7feVE

Ibert:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5v3nuDfOLc

Dowland/Van Eyck:http://youtu.be/1o0aJgHRUic

" LOVED the concert guys - innovative and fantastically diverse program. I particularly loved the C.P.E. Bach (that was me shouting brava by the way....)"Jessica Templeton May 2014

Duet for Flute and Harp                       E.G. Baron (1696-1760)

Pavan Lacrimae                                 J.Dowland/Van Eyck

Caprice No.24                                   N.Paganini (1782-1840)

Brando Alla Regina                              C. Negri (c1535-c.1604) 


Piece en form de Habenera                       M.Ravel (1875-1937)

Syrinx                                           C.Debussy(1862-1918)

Entr’acte                                        J.Ibert (1890-1962)


Sonata H542.5                                  C.P.E.Bach (1714-1788)

Sonata Prima                                      G.B.Fontana (c.1580-c.1630)

Sonata Prima                                       D.Castello (c.1590-c.1658)

Feuilles D’Automne                                 A. Hasselmans (1845-1912)

Café 1930
Libertango                                         A.Piazzolla (1921-1992)

 

Other Repertoire:

Partitia in G minor                                     G.P.Telemann (1681-1767)

General Leslys Goodnight                               Wemyss Lute Book (c1645)
Lady Iveah                                                 T. Connelan (c1640 – 98)
The Hawke of Ballyshannon                               T. O’Carolan (1670-1738)
Miss Hamilton                                              C. Lyons (c1680-1750)
Sir Thomas Burke                                          T.O’Carolan

Wat zalmen op den Avond doen                        J.van Eyck (1590-1657)

Sonata in F Major                                      G.F.Handel (1685-1759)

Aileen Aroon                                         

David of the White Rock                                  John Parry(1710-1782)

The Rising Lark                                             Edward Jones (1796)

 Lady Meng Jiang

 Purple Bamboo Melody                                  anon.Chinese 

Romanian Dances                                         B.Bartok (1881-1945)