textura

Lavinia Meijer: Winter
Sony Classical

Having settled on her seasonal theme, South Korean-born Dutch harpist Lavinia Meijer made three smart choices in the creation of Winter, the first a set-list that augments material by Britten, Rachmaninoff, Satie, and Schubert with pieces by contemporary composers Max Richter, Philip Glass, Òlafur Arnalds, Nils Frahm, and others. Secondly, she brought guests abroad for a number of performances, including violist Nadia Sirota and Alma Quartet. Thirdly, she worked two compositions of her own into the programme, pieces that turn out to be among the album's best.

That two pieces by Glass appear on Winter makes sense, given the strong association she's established with his music. Her 2012 album Metamorphosis / The Hours features his music exclusively, and she's transcribed numerous other works by the American composer and performed with him on stage. Of course she has developed strong affinities for the works of other composers too, as evidenced by those featured on Winter.

The seed for the project was planted more than a year ago when a piece of music that didn't make it onto her previous album offered fresh inspiration. Open Window, a three-part setting written by her during the pandemic, not only concerns the chill of winter forcing people indoors but also the isolation imposed by lockdowns and physical separation from others. With the general album concept crystallizing, Meijer began mulling over selections that would dovetail with the theme and work well together. As dispiriting as things like isolation and the pandemic are, Winter is anything but dour; if anything, it's the polar opposite and intentionally so, as the harpist wanted the recording to make listeners feel alive and appreciative of the beauty around them.

Richter's “The Departure” (from the soundtrack to The Leftovers) makes for an arresting scene-setter when its ominous melodies are voiced hauntingly by Meijer and underlaid by rapid lilting patterns. Calmer by comparison is her rendering of Rachmaninoff's “Nunc Dimittis,” the fifth movement from his All-Night-Vigil Op. 37. Here we also witness the harpist's appetite for enhancing her instrument with effects, it shadowed in this case by near-subliminal organ-like textures. That's taken to a further extreme when Reyer Zwart's “Amethyst” couples her with the Dutch composer on double bass and Alma Quartet, the strings and Meijer beautifully ornamenting Zwart's endearingly melodic material with their playing. Winter is abundant in beguiling material, whether it be “As Ballad” by Lambert, a Hamburg composer who performs wearing a Sardinian mask, “Danses de travers No. 2: Passer” from Satie's Pièces froides, or Meijer's poetic reverie “Tomorrowday.”

While sadness permeates the dignified opening movement of Meijer's Open Window, the second lifts the spirits by incorporating references to an entrancing folk song from Korea. Other selections are also delectably folk-tinged, including Frahm's “Over There, It's Raining” and George I. Gurdjieff and Thomas De Hartmann's “Song of the Fisherwomen.” On the melancholy tip are “A Winter Interlude,” a regal expression co-credited to Schubert and Meijer, “Corpus Christi Carol,” Britten's 1933 setting of a carol about five centuries old, and Òlafur Arnalds' plaintive, Alma Quartet-enhanced “Lag Fyrir Ömmu.”

Glass is represented by “The Orchard,” credited to him and Foday Musa Suso and from the soundtrack to The Screens (1992), and “Freezing,” which couples his music with Suzanne Vega's lyrics and first appeared on Songs from Liquid Days (1986). Sirota's viola provides a stirring partner to harp in the former, while the singing of the a cappella quintet Wishful Singing does the same on the aptly chosen latter. “Winter for me isn't just about the cold,” says Meijer, “it's also about long stretches of endurance.” Certainly this warming and richly rewarding collection should help listeners hold on until spring's wished-for arrival.

January 2024


	Lavinia Meijer: Winter Sony Classical Having settled on her seasonal theme, South Korean-born Dutch harpist Lavinia Meijer made three smart choices in the creation of Winter, the first a set-list that augments material by Britten, Rachmaninoff, Satie, and Schubert with pieces by contemporary composers Max Richter, Philip Glass, Òlafur Arnalds, Nils Frahm, and others. Secondly, she brought guests abroad for a number of performances, including violist Nadia Sirota and Alma Quartet. Thirdly, she worked two compositions of her own into the programme, pieces that turn out to be among the album's best. That two pieces by Glass appear on Winter makes sense, given the strong association she's established with his music. Her 2012 album Metamorphosis / The Hours features his music exclusively, and she's transcribed numerous other works by the American composer and performed with him on stage. Of course she has developed strong affinities for the works of other composers too, as evidenced by those featured on Winter. The seed for the project was planted more than a year ago when a piece of music that didn't make it onto her previous album offered fresh inspiration. Open Window, a three-part setting written by her during the pandemic, not only concerns the chill of winter forcing people indoors but also the isolation imposed by lockdowns and physical separation from others. With the general album concept crystallizing, Meijer began mulling over selections that would dovetail with the theme and work well together. As dispiriting as things like isolation and the pandemic are, Winter is anything but dour; if anything, it's the polar opposite and intentionally so, as the harpist wanted the recording to make listeners feel alive and appreciative of the beauty around them. Richter's “The Departure” (from the soundtrack to The Leftovers) makes for an arresting scene-setter when its ominous melodies are voiced hauntingly by Meijer and underlaid by rapid lilting patterns. Calmer by comparison is her rendering of Rachmaninoff's “Nunc Dimittis,” the fifth movement from his All-Night-Vigil Op. 37. Here we also witness the harpist's appetite for enhancing her instrument with effects, it shadowed in this case by near-subliminal organ-like textures. That's taken to a further extreme when Reyer Zwart's “Amethyst” couples her with the Dutch composer on double bass and Alma Quartet, the strings and Meijer beautifully ornamenting Zwart's endearingly melodic material with their playing. Winter is abundant in beguiling material, whether it be “As Ballad” by Lambert, a Hamburg composer who performs wearing a Sardinian mask, “Danses de travers No. 2: Passer” from Satie's Pièces froides, or Meijer's poetic reverie “Tomorrowday.” While sadness permeates the dignified opening movement of Meijer's Open Window, the second lifts the spirits by incorporating references to an entrancing folk song from Korea. Other selections are also delectably folk-tinged, including Frahm's “Over There, It's Raining” and George I. Gurdjieff and Thomas De Hartmann's “Song of the Fisherwomen.” On the melancholy tip are “A Winter Interlude,” a regal expression co-credited to Schubert and Meijer, “Corpus Christi Carol,” Britten's 1933 setting of a carol about five centuries old, and Òlafur Arnalds' plaintive, Alma Quartet-enhanced “Lag Fyrir Ömmu.” Glass is represented by “The Orchard,” credited to him and Foday Musa Suso and from the soundtrack to The Screens (1992), and “Freezing,” which couples his music with Suzanne Vega's lyrics and first appeared on Songs from Liquid Days (1986). Sirota's viola provides a stirring partner to harp in the former, while the singing of the a cappella quintet Wishful Singing does the same on the aptly chosen latter. “Winter for me isn't just about the cold,” says Meijer, “it's also about long stretches of endurance.” Certainly this warming and richly rewarding collection should help listeners hold on until spring's wished-for arrival. January 2024