Hindemith, Krenek, Tailleferre, Berio, Britten

COMPOSERS: Berio,Britten,Hindemith,Krenek,Tailleferre
LABELS: Arts
ALBUM TITLE: Collection: Harp XX
WORKS: Works by Hindemith, Krenek, Tailleferre, Berio, Britten
PERFORMER: Claudia Antonelli (harp)
CATALOGUE NO: 47532-2

This CD displays a wide range of 20th-century harp colours in its choice of repertoire. Arranged in chronological order, it begins with Hindemith's Sonata, but this is not the best performance on the disc; Antonelli comes into her own in the much more compelling and rarer recordings of works by Berio, Petrassi and Bussotti in which she shows the most sympathy for the modernist idiom. In all three of these pieces she displays a wide range of tone colours and timbres with often violent contrasts of dynamics and registers and fragmented textures. The Bussotti is almost neo-expressionist in its extremes. There were some unusual choices of tempo together with some impetuosity of rhythm in the earlier pieces by Hindemith, Britten and Tailleferre which had a leisurely account of the first movement, but no gaiety as required by the composer. Despite some musical moments, there were places where some more attention to detail could have been given. Generally, very little time was allowed in the mastering between movements and pieces on this recording, whereas in the Bussotti where there are very protracted dying away chords together with some neo-classical fragments a sense of continuity hangs by a very fine thread. Danielle Perrett