Of Basque ancestry,
the young Carlos Salzedo – whose mother
was a pianist and his father a singer
– very early demonstrated precocious
musical abilities. He studied piano
and by the age of nine his teachers
in Bordeaux recommended that he be taken
to Paris, where he might receive more
advanced tuition than they could give
him. He was admitted to the Paris Conservatoire,
making rapid progress as a pianist;
he also took up the harp and made astonishingly
quick progress on his new instrument.
Indeed he was later awarded – on the
same day! – the Conservatoire’s first
prizes for both piano and harp. In 1909
he became harpist in the orchestra of
the Metropolitan Opera, under the direction
of Toscanini. He quickly became both
a musical and social success in New
York. On honeymoon in Europe the newly
married Salzedo found himself drafted
into the French army at the outbreak
of war; he was discharged because of
illness and was able to make his way
back to the U.S.A. As a performer, a
composer and a teacher he was an important
presence on the American musical scene
for the rest of his life.
Salzedo was a fine
interpreter of the traditional repertoire
of the harp; but he was also an innovator,
with interests in the avant-garde. He
and Edgar Varèse became good
friends and worked together in the establishment
of the International Composer’s Guild
in 1921, which did so much to introduce
new music to American audiences. Indeed
in 1923 he played in the premiere of
Varèse’s Ionisation, playing
Chinese blocks rather than harp.
Salzedo’s own compositions
colourfully exploit the instrumental
resources of the harp, resources which
he knew so well and which he did much
to extend. Some of his work is reminiscent
of that other Basque (well, half Basque)
Ravel; some stretches the boundaries
of his impressionist inheritance.
Almost all the work
to be heard on this CD consists of miniatures
with programmatic titles. The two volumes
of Short Stories in Music contain some
fifteen short pieces, one some two and
half minutes long, several less than
a minute, with titles such as ‘The Dwarf
and the Giant’, ‘Madonna and Child’,
‘At Church’ and ‘The Mermaid’s Chimes’.
A number of these – including the last
two just named – contain some exquisite
writing, beautifully conceived in terms
of the instrument. The Suite of Eight
Dances was published only in 1943 but
contains a Polka said to have been first
written when Salzedo was five! The Gavotte
which opens the suite is particularly
attractive and the brief (barely more
than thirty seconds) Seguidilla is richly
evocative of Andalusian rhythms. The
Tango is a gorgeously seductive piece
– indeed, this Suite as a whole is a
minor masterpiece. So too is the Prelude
for a Drama – at four and half minutes
the longest single composition on the
CD. This Prelude is by turns meditative
and ominous, delicate single notes leading
to some rich chordal writing.
Of the two early works
which close the programme, the Variations
is the more familiar, its technical
tests considerable – Sarah Schuster
Ericsson describes it as "one of
the most physically demanding compositions
for the harp" – and its musical
rewards similarly considerable. Perhaps
one or two of the variations on Salzedo’s
dignified theme come close to being
technical demonstrations or test-pieces,
but most of the variations – such as
‘Trills’ or ‘Barcarolle’ – have genuine
beauties to offer, and reveal themselves
as the work of, not just a virtuoso
performer, but of a musical mind of
impressive intelligence, a mind with
a real interest in compositional possibilities
and challenges. Much the same goes for
the Préludes intimes, though
perhaps there is less musical substance
here and a bit more readiness to settle
for some relatively familiar harp routines.
Salzedo’s music rewards
attentive listening – most of what is
recorded here is not at all the rather
wishy-washy mood music which sometimes
passes for music for solo harp. And
at the hands (and feet) of Sarah Schuster
Ericsson it gets the kind of performance
it deserves, committed and serious,
with enough panache to do justice to
the flair and colour of the music but
never giving way to mere flashiness.
Ericsson’s control of dynamic contrast
is particularly impressive; her instruments
– she plays two Lyon and Healey harps,
a Concert Grand 23 and a ‘Salzedo’ model
– are well recorded in a spacious, but
not over resonant, acoustic.
Glyn Pursglove
for
details
Sarah Schuster Ericsson (harp) 
