Sounds and Fantasies

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Kathryn Sloat full profile / Solo Harp / 1 musician

Full program notes

Charles Oberthur: Fantasie uber Hansel und Gretel
This piece is Engelbert Humperdinck's opera in miniature!
CPE Bach: Sonata in G - 2. Allegro
One of Bach's sons (he had MANY) wrote this sonata for keyboard, and it is a favorite among harpists to adapt for our instrument.
Ludwig Spohr: Fantasia
As is so common among composers who write for the harp, Ludwig's wife Dorette Scheidler was a harpist. Supposedly he wooed her by writing a piece for harp and violin and asking her to perform it with him.

Paul Hindemith: Sonata for Harp
After Paul Hindemith fled the Nazis he settled in Switzerland, where he wrote the Sonata for Harp in 1939. He eventually ended up in the United States.
Ekaterina Walter-Kune: Fantaisie sur un theme de l'opera Eugene Onegin
EWK took a theme from Tchaikovsky's opera and went on a tangent about it.
Gabriel Faure: Impromptu
Faure wrote this piece for the Paris Conservatory's final exams in the early 1900s. There are some juicy rumors in the harp world about this piece!

Historical context

This program contains fantastical harp solos from multiple time periods. Several of them are fantasies on opera themes, and some are sonatas. I rounded it out with a classic, Faure's Impromptu.

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