Lavinia Meijer | Harp

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Harpistische gifspinnen * * * *

Lavinia Meijer – Visions
Door Roland de Beer

In de schaduw van de stervioliste Janine Jansen hebben ook andere Nederlandse musici dit najaar excellente verrichtingen zien uitkomen op cd. Hun kansen op eigen glossy’s zijn kleiner, maar de resultaten zijn groot.
Tot de beste producties hoort die van de harpiste Lavinia Meijer, uitblinkend in naoorlogs werk: ‘oude’ nieuwe muziek van Britten uit 1969, nieuwere van Takemitsu en Isang Yun, en nog nieuwere van Byrnes en Patterson. Die laatste twee zijn van hier en nu, maar klinken minder grensverleggend dan de overleden Yun en Takemitsu.

Vooral Takemitsu’s Stanza II voor harp en tape is de omweg via Patterson waard. Met de harp als half westerse, half oosterse (aan een Japanse citer herinnerende) klankbron, volvoert Meijer een hyperdelicaat duet met avondlijke omgevingsgeluiden als getjilp en ‘pratende mensen in de verte’.

Eveneens vanuit de schemer komen Byrnes’ Visions in twilight, en de harpistische gifspinnen, mieren en muggen in Spiders op.48 en Bugs op.93 van Paul Patterson. Hier brengt de met de Nederlandse Muziekprijs gelauwerde Meijer ook haar unieke gave in stelling: voor explosief-tumultueus harpspel, dat tegelijk tot in de puntjes is gearticuleerd.

Ontroerend is Brittens Suite opus 83. Wat Britten met de harp vermocht, liet hij al horen in orkestbezettingen bij opera’s als Peter Grimes. De solosuite componeerde hij in een periode waarin hij kritiek kreeg alleen nog bezig te zijn met kleinschalig gekriebel. Maar juist in de suggestie van alleen zijn zit hier de grote kracht.

“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.

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 H√§ndel 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.