Lauren Scott: Sea of Stars
Avie Records

An indispensable addition to any harp lover's library, Lauren Scott's Sea of Stars is a splendid sequel to her debut outing Beyond the Horizon. Amplifying its appeal, Sea of Stars not only showcases Scott's prowess as a performer and arranger but as a composer too when the release features her own exquisite originals alongside ones by Grace Evangeline Mason, Rudiger Opperman, and Monika Stadler. Add to that treatments of material by Ravel and J. S. Bach and two beloved traditionals and the result is a must-have for any harp aficionado.

Scott builds on the album's sound by playing lever and pedal harps (prepared pedal harp too) and by augmenting her own instrument with the pedal and prepared pedal harps of Elizabeth Bass, Keziah Thomas, Eleanor Turner, and Alexander Rider on selected pieces. Known for her collaborative projects and respected as a hard-working freelancer with major UK orchestras and as a harpist with a number of chamber ensembles, Scott (b. 1970) makes the strongest case possible for herself as a solo artist with Sea of Stars. In doing so, she also shows the harp to be considerably more than a pretty face when it occasionally highlights its capacity for rawness.

Its writing inspired by bio-luminescent plankton that glow in the dark, Scott's opening Sea of Stars features lever and pedal harps and thus exposes the listener to their differences. Even so, one's attention will more likely fixate on the mesmerizing sound world she creates, filled as it is with crystalline blaze and intricate filigrees. Brilliant strums, chords, and plucks coalesce into a grandiose statement, after which her Printemps, written for Rider and reflecting his love for French music, seduces with a gentler attack; that said, the wistful tone of Scott's poetic reverie possesses a charm entirely consistent with the feeling of renewal spring brings. After those originals, the harpist directs her attention to a poised interpretation of the stately hymn “Be Thou My Vision.”

From Ravel's enchanting Ma mère L'Oye comes Scott's arrangement for two harps of “Laideronnette, Empress of the Pagodas,” with she and Rider playing pedal harps and deftly channeling the magic of the alluring material. The album's contemplative side comes to the fore in Mason's architecturally sound Glass Cathedrals and Scott's lever harp arrangement of Bach's “Prelude” from his second Cello Suite. Her artistry as a performer is demonstrated in the patience with which she delivers Opperman's plaintive Breathing with Harp.

As we move into the album's final stages, a trio of Scott compositions reminds us of her gifts in that department. The captivating Neeps and Tatties exudes the irresistible enticement of a children's lullaby; the picturesque On a Blue Hill advances through four sections referencing different cloud types, with Thomas and Scott on pedal harps evoking the wide-open terrain of the Cumbrian hills. The album's lone quartet performance, Scott's animated folk-styled reverie The Sun and Her Flowers features her, Turner, Bass, and Rider on prepared pedal harps. That prepared aspect illuminates Stadler's No One Can Stop Me Now even more when Scott's pedal harp is covered by a strip of paper that embroiders the melodies with arresting rattling and buzzing effects. After that exercise in spellcasting, Scott ends her recording with a lovely pedal harp rendition of the folk classic “The Wayfaring Stranger,” the arrangement this time by Andy Scott.

February 2025