Press
HiFi+ Magazine about “Fantasies & Impromptus”
“Harp music for many may seem to be a bit of a bore. Nothing is further from the truth. Meijer is in a class by herself here. This is the third release by Channel Classics of Meijer’s harp music and it may just be the best. Ask me another day and I might say something different. In 2008 she recorded her solo-CD “Divertissements” with Channel Classics (works by Salzedo, Caplet and Ibert). In 2009 she recorded with Channel Classics her next solo-CD “Visions” (works by Britten, Patterson, Byrnes, Yun and Takemitsu). There are not many disc that can give me that ‘goose-bump feeling’ but this is one of them. Each work is very different and will show the listener the depths of her talent. Each composers work seems to prepare the listener for the next track and you will hear how different the harp sounds. Meijer is a talent of the first order. The rich sonorous sound she creates is a beautiful thing that you must truly sample. While the SACD stereo mix is luscious the CD layer will definitely not disappoint. Readers should purchase this disc first and then explore her other releases on Channel Classics.”
Fantasies & Impromptus
Audiophile audition
By John Sunier
June 11, 2011
“Fantasies & Impromptus” – PIERNE: Impromptu-Caprice; SPOHR: Fantasie; Variations on “Je suis encore dans mon printemps”; SAINT-SAENS: Fantasie; FAURE: Impromptu; Une Chatelaine en sa tour…; VERDALLE: 2nd Impromptu; SNOER: Fantasie on Netherlands folk song “Wien Neerlandsch bloed;” ROUSSEL: Impromptu; GLIERE: Impromptu – Lavina Meijer, concert harp – Channel Classics multichannel SACD CCS SA 31711, 72:04 [Distr. by Harmonia mundi] *****:
This is the third SACD for Channel Classics from the Korean harpist who lives in the Netherlands. The prize-winning harpist has assembled a fine program of Fantasies and Impromptus by various composers, and it includes the world premiere recordings of two totally forgotten composers for the harp – Snoer and Verdalle. In addition, the Saint-Saens Op. 95 Fantaisie is performed for the first time in its original version length of 11 minutes.
Both Snoer and Verdalle were concert harpists are the turn of the 19th century to the 20th. Snoer had been the lead harpist of the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam in 1888 at the age of only 20. Both harpists left us ten harp compositions each, which have all been forgotten until now. The Verdalle Impromptu is extremely virtuosic – obviously designed for the composer himself to show off his skills in performance. The Snoer Fantasie is on a folk song which had been the Dutch national anthem until it was later discarded due to a text about “being free of foreign stain.”
All the works are most lovely and superbly performed and recorded. The one that seemed to have most depth and originality to me was Roussel’s Op. 21 Impromptu, which he had dedicated to Lily Laskine, the famous French harpist who made many recordings. While most of the composers here have eschewed the familiar harpy glissandos up and down the strings, Roussel has in the middle of his six-minute piece three of them, starting very loud and ending triple pianissimo. None of the pieces use the avant effects developed by another famous harpist, Nicanor Zabeleta, but get across their messages with more standard techniques.
The original DSD master was recorded using some new type of mike and interconnect cables from Dutch cable and cartridge pioneer A.J. van den Hul. All I noticed was that the sonics were up to the normal very high Channel Classics standard.
“An enchanting and diverting harp recital that can leave you breathless”
Gramophone May 2009
I have a confession to make. When my son was small, he often had trouble falling asleep at night. My lullaby-singing proved an ineffective soporific, so I experimented with more musical alternatives. In the end it was a disc of harp music that did the trick. Initially, I was relieved, but soon began to worry about possible long-term effects. Would he have to wonder, in his adulthood, why the strains of Salzedo rendered him senseless?
I’d forgotten about the Pavlovian can of worms I’d opened up until I slipped this CD into the players. As I sat mesmerised by the elegance and elan of Lavinia Meijer’s interpretations, I suddenly remembered and a wave of guilt swept over me. Her music-making should make one sit up and listen, not drift off. Indeed, it’s the delicate moments of this programme that left me breathless. In Meijer’s hands Salzedo’s “Jeux d’eau” Op 29, is a masterpiece, its fragile tones as evanescent as sea spray. Salzedo’s Op 30 Variations offer a wider emotional range and, although Yolanda Kondonassis plays with greater brilliance and bravado on a Telarc recital, I find Meijer’s performance the more emotionally engaging. Channel Classics also provides airier sound, particularly in SACD format.
The Caplet Divertissements are atmospheric gems – mercurial in the French one, brooding in the Spanish. And Ibert’s six evocative and exquisite miniatures give Meijer further opportunity to enchant, particularly in the Faure-like melancholy of the Ballade. A bewitching recital from first note to last.
Farach-Colto
Artistic quality 10/10 Sound quality
Classics Today, 10th November 2008
If you have room in your collection for only a single solo harp recital, then let it be this disc. It features magnificent performances of real harp music, not the usual transcriptions of piano pieces, songs, or selected ephemera. Indeed, the music here is very substantial. Salzedo’s Three Pieces include a lengthy and inventive “Variations on a Theme in the Old Style” and two stunning impressionist masterpieces: a Ballade and the obligatory “water” piece, Jeux d’eau. The total playing time is a solid half an hour, so we’re not talking about salon dainties, but rather serious music. Caplet’s two Divertissements, one in French style, the other Spanish, are the only two works on this disc that may be at all well known. They are lovely, charming, and luminously beautiful. So is Ibert’s ambitious Six Pieces, another major work some 35 minutes long, one that will be totally unfamiliar to most listeners. Here we find no less than three very different “water” pieces (Morning on the Water, On a boat, evening…, and Reflections in the Water) interspersed with a piquant Scherzetto, a romantic Ballade, and a richly inventive concluding Fantasie. It all adds up to an hour and quarter of splendid music that reveals the harp as a richly expressive vehicle. Of course, none of this would matter if Lavinia Meijer were not a superb artist, but of that there can be no question. She plays with consummate virtuosity (the Salzedo pieces in particular offer numerous opportunities for atmospheric effects, and Meijer captures every nuance) and with a positively luscious tone that never turns “twangy” in the lower register or dry on high. Channel Classics’ sonics, in regular stereo or multi-channel playback, really do define the state of the art; they are in a class of their own. While the music certainly rewards attentive listening, I don’t think it does a disservice to point out that it’s also perfect for “quiet listening”, radio play, or creating a soothing atmosphere. Meijer refers to this as her “first” disc for Channel Classics. Here’s looking forward to the next release–no gimmicks please, just great music for the harp (especially more Salzedo), as here.
NRC Handelsblad, 4th of June 2007 Meijer and Top win Prize
Amsterdam, 4th of June. Yesterday afternoon in the Small Hall of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw the Fortis MeesPierson Award 2007 was awarded to harpist Lavinia Meijer and violinist Tjeerd Top, deputy leader of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, who gave a rectial together. The Fortis MeesPierson Award is an amount of 10.000 euro, which can be used for the purpose of developing the own musical talent. The other nominated musicians were the Amstel Soxophone quartet, the duo Mellema/Van Klaveren, the baritons Mattijs van de Woerd and Thomas Oliemans, and the pianists Jeroen Sarphati and Ernst Munneke.
Volkskrant
Harp Lavinia Meijer speaks with a manly voice Volkskrant From our correspondent: Frits van der Waa Note: Music Note: Dussek, Salzedo, Bach, Renié a.o. by Lavinia Meijer, harp. 4th of October 2006, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.
It was n ever known that you could shoot fire-arrows from a harp. Lavinia Meijer succeeded in that piece of art on Wednesday during her performance in the Small Hall of Amsterdam, and she added some sparkling rain also. The Variations on an Ancient Theme by Carlos Salzedo didn’t include thunder, but the American composer Garrett Byrnes took care of that: In his piece Visions in Twilight, composed five years earlier, Meijer let the bass string make a wild, explosive sound.
Meijer is representing the Netherlands in the Rising Stars concert series, a project in which six major music halls pass on very promising young musicians to each other. Although the harpist is only 22 years old, as a musician she is completely grown up. Additionally, she not only manages to create from her instrument kitty-like fairytale sounds, but she can also let it speak with a manly voice. And she obviously enjoys it. Her program, at first sight a handful of easily listening pieces, had the convincing power of a moving speech, so splendid in development and brought with so much eloquence that the end, two hours later, came almost disappointingly early.
That Meijer has complete technical control of the harp, actually speaks for itself. More important is that everything she plays, whether a fugue of Bach, a romantic, little piece by Fauré, or the cat-like, pleasantly modern piece by Paul Patterson, is full of colour and life. She doesn’t only achieve that through giving the individual lines each their own dynamic curve, but also through the arsenal of timbres which she possesses. That richness of timbres reaches from the quirking of crickets till an orchestral majesty.
That Meijer is not to be underestimated, is proven by her upcoming concert at the end of this month in the Muziekgebouw, with works by Ravel and two new compositions, in which she will battle against the four saxophonists of the Aurelia quartet.
Frits van der Waa
© Volkskrant
Translation: K.P. Clark
Lavinia Meijer wins Vriendenkrans March 12th 2005
Third prize at the sixth USA International Harp Competition -July 2-11, 2004-
Lavinia Meijer wins third prize at the sixth USA International Harp Competition in Bloomington, Indiana.
The original 45 contestants, from 17 nations, were widdled down to a final round of three. Lavinia was the first dutch participant in the history of this prestigious competition to ever reach this final round. The French Ceysson and the American Smith took the first and second prizes, respectively.
Not only did Lavinia return to Holland with the third prize, but also two special prizes for the best performance of the Händel Harp Concerto in B-Flat Major and the breathtaking new piece by G. Byrnes, Visions in Twilight.
Review:
As if the multicolored strings were her canvas, Lavinia Meijer of the Netherlands “finger-painted” her musical montage – rocking back and forth against her harp in rhythms of lively expression. Her hands and arms slowed to a near halt, and then another flurry began, as she projected Handel’s Concerto in B-Flat Major to more than 900 spectators at Indiana University Auditorium. A model of concentration, she danced finger-by-finger to produce each dainty note.
- Herald Times
First prize winner April -17th, 18th 2004-
Lavinia Meijer wins FIRST PRIZE at the Fourth Dutch Harp Contest 2004. The first prize included a Salviharp “Aïda”, a cd recording and several concert engagements.
