Monday, 29 March 2010
More airtime with Alan Titchmarsh
We are very pleased that Alan Titchmarsh has taken a liking to our CD, as he played it again on his BBC Radio 2 show last night. To listen to our arrangement of Saint-Saens' Aquarium from Carnival of the Animals being broadcast, click here - we are on at approximately 1 hr 19 mins and 55 seconds!
Monday, 15 March 2010
Performance for Noson Lawen
We recently blogged about our day spent recording for Noson Lawen on Welsh TV channel S4C where we had such fun getting dressed up and performing some of our favourite repertoire as well as collaborating on the well-known Welsh folk tune 'David of the White Rock' with tenor Gwyn Hughes Jones. We can finally share this music with you as, over the weekend, the recording was broadcast on the first episode of the new series of Noson Lawen (8pm Saturdays). You can watch the whole show by clicking here - we are on at approximately 8 minutes 20 seconds and again at 38 minutes 40 seconds.
Hope you enjoy,
4G4H xx
Hope you enjoy,
4G4H xx
Thursday, 18 February 2010
Recording for S4C
We recently enjoyed a weekend in Caernarfon, North Wales recording for the entertainment programme Noson Lawen. It was an action-packed day with full-on hair and make up followed by rehearsals and filming of close up hand shots and audio coverage before the live show that evening. We decided to play our funky version of Scottish tune 'Glenlivet' and we were also performing as accompanists for 'David of the White Rock' which was very atmospheric. The show will be broadcast on S4C on 13th March 2010 and we can't wait!
As we had such a good time we wanted to share it with you, so here are some photos from the day:
Friday, 12 February 2010
2010 and beyond
It has been a busy few weeks for 4 Girls 4 Harps. At the end of 2009 we bid farewell to Keziah who has moved to live in New York for a few years. However, amazingly, she will still be playing in the quartet as she will be commuting between America and the UK for work. We are really glad as it would have been very sad to have had to say good bye to her as a member of the group.
2010 is shaping up to be another busy year for us with our first TV appearance of the year scheduled for Saturday 13 February and a performance of Paul Patterson's 'Avian Arabesques' for the Newbury Festival in May. We are also looking forward to the finished version of our new DVD which we recorded last summer.
We were recently featured by the French harp-makers Camac on their industry blog: Harpblog. Camac Harps are one of the big harp companies which supply harps to professionals and amateurs across the world. It is great to be featured on their website as loads of harpists read it and we get the chance to introduce more people to the world of multiple harps. You can read the full article with pictures and sound clips on the website by clicking here but we have also reproduced the words below for those who don't want to venture off our site:
Music for 188 strings: Four Girls Four Harps
Written by Helen Radice for Camac Harps
Many of you will have survived enjoyed a constructive learning experience doing harp ensemble during your studies. This doesn't always turn out to be chamber music on quite the same level as your fellow students' string quartets, but a real harp ensemble can be impressive, commercially appealing and musically enchanting - as British harp quartet Four Girls Four Harps prove.
Four Girls Four Harps began life as a student ensemble, but are now a professional quartet with two CDs under their belt, a busy concert schedule and a DVD in the offing. They perform a slick show from memory, use electric as well as concert harps, and have developed a repertoire now consisting almost entirely of original commissions and their own arrangements.
"We arrived at our current repertoire through trial and error" quartet member Harriet Adie explains. "When we began we often played harp duets with two on a part, or even piano duets. Obviously, that‘s not a satisfactory professional solution, but when you are eighteen you‘re in less of a position to do anything about this yourself. To improve our repertoire, we commissioned some pieces, such as Edward Longstaff‘s Saraswati, and at the same time, Eleanor Turner and I (the group‘s composers) got more experienced in writing and arranging. Now we do all our arrangements and this allows us to be far more imaginative when programming.
Experience also helped us arrive at an identity for the quartet. We decided to play classical music rather than crossover, but on the easy listening side of classical – what the popular classical radio station Classic FM plays, for example. This is because it seems to be the most obvious market for a harp quartet. There is no way we can play Beethoven string quartets, so there is no point in pretending we‘re in that sort of market. Equally, it was important to all of us to keep our classical integrity: crossover might work for a short while, but it usually fizzles out. You also need to enjoy what you do, and audiences would be able to tell that our hearts aren‘t in crossover.
In fact, I had an argument with the editor of Gramophone magazine who told me our latest CD was crossover. I said, how is this crossover? Every single piece on here is a classical piece, and what do you expect a harp quartet to play anyway, Death and the Maiden? He didn‘t reply…he assumed, like many people, that a harp quartet must be a crossover gimmick, but we aren‘t.
When you are in a more unusual ensemble, you need to strike a balance in your repertoire that fits your market well, without patronising them. You need a few famous names on your concert bill to get people to come, but if you were only playing arrangements of popular classics, people would feel it was just a gimmick. We also play contemporary music (at least six original harp quartet works of professional-level difficult now exist because of us) but this sort of music requires a certain level of aural training; it can be hard to listen to at first. An audience might enjoy a contemporary piece once they‘ve heard it several times, but you don‘t have that chance in a concert. So if we programme a contemporary piece in a concert, we make sure it will inspire the audience‘s imagination so they can think about what is happening musically, without hitting them with too much, too fast. The pieces Ellie and I have written are essentially still very tonal, and interestingly they are the works people come and ask us about instead of the most famous music.
We‘ve also had very effective collaborations with other instruments. We added tabla to Edward Longstaff‘s Saraswati because the piece is all about an Indian goddess; we did some Christmas arrangements with flute and oboe last year which worked very well; and in the summer we began working with strings and choir. This is something we‘re going to take further in our planned DVD. We‘d been talking with some people in the record industry, who said that if the combination was to work commercially, we would have to add something to the sound, hence the string and choir backings for three new pieces. Such collaborations are also useful for concerts – for example, we‘re doing a concert with a Welsh choir this month, with a mixture of quartet and joint slots.
We‘re inspired by the Pavão Quartet, who play classical music properly, but do lots of other fun stuff as well.
The fact that the quartet is professional and established rather than student also affects the repertoire. For example, most published harp quartet arrangements have parts that scale down in terms of difficulty, so fourth harp is much easier than first – they‘re aimed at students. It‘s a different sound when you can have four parts of equal strength. And when we arrange our own music, because we know who is going to play what part, we often write the parts to suit the players‘ individual strengths! Still, that is a bonus. We hope other harp ensembles could benefit from our music – the Birmingham Conservatoire harp ensemble did my piece Sun, Moon and Stars in a concert last month."
2010 is shaping up to be another busy year for us with our first TV appearance of the year scheduled for Saturday 13 February and a performance of Paul Patterson's 'Avian Arabesques' for the Newbury Festival in May. We are also looking forward to the finished version of our new DVD which we recorded last summer.
We were recently featured by the French harp-makers Camac on their industry blog: Harpblog. Camac Harps are one of the big harp companies which supply harps to professionals and amateurs across the world. It is great to be featured on their website as loads of harpists read it and we get the chance to introduce more people to the world of multiple harps. You can read the full article with pictures and sound clips on the website by clicking here but we have also reproduced the words below for those who don't want to venture off our site:
Music for 188 strings: Four Girls Four Harps
Written by Helen Radice for Camac Harps
Many of you will have survived enjoyed a constructive learning experience doing harp ensemble during your studies. This doesn't always turn out to be chamber music on quite the same level as your fellow students' string quartets, but a real harp ensemble can be impressive, commercially appealing and musically enchanting - as British harp quartet Four Girls Four Harps prove.
Four Girls Four Harps began life as a student ensemble, but are now a professional quartet with two CDs under their belt, a busy concert schedule and a DVD in the offing. They perform a slick show from memory, use electric as well as concert harps, and have developed a repertoire now consisting almost entirely of original commissions and their own arrangements.
"We arrived at our current repertoire through trial and error" quartet member Harriet Adie explains. "When we began we often played harp duets with two on a part, or even piano duets. Obviously, that‘s not a satisfactory professional solution, but when you are eighteen you‘re in less of a position to do anything about this yourself. To improve our repertoire, we commissioned some pieces, such as Edward Longstaff‘s Saraswati, and at the same time, Eleanor Turner and I (the group‘s composers) got more experienced in writing and arranging. Now we do all our arrangements and this allows us to be far more imaginative when programming.
Experience also helped us arrive at an identity for the quartet. We decided to play classical music rather than crossover, but on the easy listening side of classical – what the popular classical radio station Classic FM plays, for example. This is because it seems to be the most obvious market for a harp quartet. There is no way we can play Beethoven string quartets, so there is no point in pretending we‘re in that sort of market. Equally, it was important to all of us to keep our classical integrity: crossover might work for a short while, but it usually fizzles out. You also need to enjoy what you do, and audiences would be able to tell that our hearts aren‘t in crossover.
In fact, I had an argument with the editor of Gramophone magazine who told me our latest CD was crossover. I said, how is this crossover? Every single piece on here is a classical piece, and what do you expect a harp quartet to play anyway, Death and the Maiden? He didn‘t reply…he assumed, like many people, that a harp quartet must be a crossover gimmick, but we aren‘t.
When you are in a more unusual ensemble, you need to strike a balance in your repertoire that fits your market well, without patronising them. You need a few famous names on your concert bill to get people to come, but if you were only playing arrangements of popular classics, people would feel it was just a gimmick. We also play contemporary music (at least six original harp quartet works of professional-level difficult now exist because of us) but this sort of music requires a certain level of aural training; it can be hard to listen to at first. An audience might enjoy a contemporary piece once they‘ve heard it several times, but you don‘t have that chance in a concert. So if we programme a contemporary piece in a concert, we make sure it will inspire the audience‘s imagination so they can think about what is happening musically, without hitting them with too much, too fast. The pieces Ellie and I have written are essentially still very tonal, and interestingly they are the works people come and ask us about instead of the most famous music.
We‘ve also had very effective collaborations with other instruments. We added tabla to Edward Longstaff‘s Saraswati because the piece is all about an Indian goddess; we did some Christmas arrangements with flute and oboe last year which worked very well; and in the summer we began working with strings and choir. This is something we‘re going to take further in our planned DVD. We‘d been talking with some people in the record industry, who said that if the combination was to work commercially, we would have to add something to the sound, hence the string and choir backings for three new pieces. Such collaborations are also useful for concerts – for example, we‘re doing a concert with a Welsh choir this month, with a mixture of quartet and joint slots.
We‘re inspired by the Pavão Quartet, who play classical music properly, but do lots of other fun stuff as well.
The fact that the quartet is professional and established rather than student also affects the repertoire. For example, most published harp quartet arrangements have parts that scale down in terms of difficulty, so fourth harp is much easier than first – they‘re aimed at students. It‘s a different sound when you can have four parts of equal strength. And when we arrange our own music, because we know who is going to play what part, we often write the parts to suit the players‘ individual strengths! Still, that is a bonus. We hope other harp ensembles could benefit from our music – the Birmingham Conservatoire harp ensemble did my piece Sun, Moon and Stars in a concert last month."
Tuesday, 29 December 2009
Charity Recital
Back in November we really enjoyed playing for the Surrey Care Trust helping to raise money for their Changing Young Lives Appeal. We thought you might like to see some pictures from the event where we were performing with the entertainer Richard Stilgoe.
Monday, 28 December 2009
Kendal Midday Concert Club - another rave review!
With four harps, it is inevitable that we all spend a lot of time driving around the UK to perform. This concert was no exception, with two of us making the six hour journey from London to the Lake District to perform for Kendal Midday Concert Club. In spite of the long drive, it was well worth the effort as we were wonderfully looked after and most enthusiastically received by the Club's audience for our final Christmas concert of the year on 16 December 2009. We were also fortunate to have the concert reviewed, and have included it below for you to read:
Kendal Midday Concert Club
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
A dank, dismal day, the ‘Auld Grey Town’ looking leaden, the pre-Christmas pressures beginning to be felt; waiting for the start of the Midday Concert Club’s recital a fellow music-lover was describing his recent holiday in South Africa – “it was terrible”, he said, “the sun shone every day!” We clearly needed an immediate pick-me-up.
Prayers were quickly answered; on stage were four gleaming harps; soon these were joined by four young goddesses in red gowns; one of them (a Welsh deity) introduced each of them in turn and we knew that as soon as they started to play the exterior gloom would be replaced by an interior ambience that was glowing, luminous and utterly captivating.
Four Girls Four Harps perked up their audience with a magnificent display of virtuoso harp playing. Much of it took the form of their own skilful arrangements of familiar classics; some was original; but all was impeccably and excitingly played and introduced with a delightful informality and humour.
The Kendalian murk eventually re-enveloped us - not that it mattered now: we were almost ready for Christmas!
Brian Paynes.
Kendal Midday Concert Club
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
A dank, dismal day, the ‘Auld Grey Town’ looking leaden, the pre-Christmas pressures beginning to be felt; waiting for the start of the Midday Concert Club’s recital a fellow music-lover was describing his recent holiday in South Africa – “it was terrible”, he said, “the sun shone every day!” We clearly needed an immediate pick-me-up.
Prayers were quickly answered; on stage were four gleaming harps; soon these were joined by four young goddesses in red gowns; one of them (a Welsh deity) introduced each of them in turn and we knew that as soon as they started to play the exterior gloom would be replaced by an interior ambience that was glowing, luminous and utterly captivating.
Four Girls Four Harps perked up their audience with a magnificent display of virtuoso harp playing. Much of it took the form of their own skilful arrangements of familiar classics; some was original; but all was impeccably and excitingly played and introduced with a delightful informality and humour.
The Kendalian murk eventually re-enveloped us - not that it mattered now: we were almost ready for Christmas!
Brian Paynes.
Basingstoke Concert Club - Rave Review!
We have realy enjoyed rounding off this year of concerts with some Christmas-themed performances, and were fortunate enough have some of them reviewed. Below is the review from our concert for Basingstoke Concert Club on 5 Decemer 2009:
Four Girls Four Harps
Basingstoke Concert Club
Trinity Methodist Church, Basingstoke
Members of the audience were greeted by an impressive sight as they entered. At the front of the church were ranged four handsome instruments, each harp different from the others, gold, polished wood, dark and light, ornamented and plain. We were to be entertained by the Barkham Harp Quartet, Eleanor Turner, Keziah Thomas, Harriet Adie and Angharad Wyn Jones.
What an unusual ensemble this was. Their programme consisted mainly of arrangements of works for other combinations of instruments, most of them done most skilfully by members of the group. Their playing was characterised by a charming rapport with one another, and with the audience, each displaying virtuosic skill, yet blending seamlessly together.
They opened with movements from Handel’s Water Music, and continued with extracts from Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite. This was followed by arrangements of Christmas carols, in the style of Britten’s Ceremony of Carols. The audience had fun trying to work out which of the familiar tunes were disguised in these very interesting settings.Movements from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite lent themselves well to the harps, especially the Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy, but we must all have been wondering what they would make of Saint Saens’s Carnival of the Animals -how do you portray an elephant on harps? – but they managed it.
Perhaps the most interesting piece was Saraswati by Edward Longstaff, inspired by Indian music combined with a minimalist style. The Quartet had, on previous occasions, been joined to play this by Sanju Sahai on the Indian tabla. We were not privileged to hear this unusual blend of eastern and western culture, but nevertheless, the harps alone produced some fascinating new sounds and motifs.
Members of the quartet were happy to explain and demonstrate some of the mysteries of harp technique and construction, and ended their recital with two encores, an arrangement of the well-known Sleigh Ride, and another of Gershwin’s Summertime. The large and enthusiastic audience was treated to an enjoyable and attractive programme by a group of highly talented and committed young musicians.
The Concert was sponsored by Lynn Ten Kate in memory of her friend Roland Weisz, who died a year ago.
David Lucas
Four Girls Four Harps
Basingstoke Concert Club
Trinity Methodist Church, Basingstoke
Members of the audience were greeted by an impressive sight as they entered. At the front of the church were ranged four handsome instruments, each harp different from the others, gold, polished wood, dark and light, ornamented and plain. We were to be entertained by the Barkham Harp Quartet, Eleanor Turner, Keziah Thomas, Harriet Adie and Angharad Wyn Jones.
What an unusual ensemble this was. Their programme consisted mainly of arrangements of works for other combinations of instruments, most of them done most skilfully by members of the group. Their playing was characterised by a charming rapport with one another, and with the audience, each displaying virtuosic skill, yet blending seamlessly together.
They opened with movements from Handel’s Water Music, and continued with extracts from Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite. This was followed by arrangements of Christmas carols, in the style of Britten’s Ceremony of Carols. The audience had fun trying to work out which of the familiar tunes were disguised in these very interesting settings.Movements from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite lent themselves well to the harps, especially the Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy, but we must all have been wondering what they would make of Saint Saens’s Carnival of the Animals -how do you portray an elephant on harps? – but they managed it.
Perhaps the most interesting piece was Saraswati by Edward Longstaff, inspired by Indian music combined with a minimalist style. The Quartet had, on previous occasions, been joined to play this by Sanju Sahai on the Indian tabla. We were not privileged to hear this unusual blend of eastern and western culture, but nevertheless, the harps alone produced some fascinating new sounds and motifs.
Members of the quartet were happy to explain and demonstrate some of the mysteries of harp technique and construction, and ended their recital with two encores, an arrangement of the well-known Sleigh Ride, and another of Gershwin’s Summertime. The large and enthusiastic audience was treated to an enjoyable and attractive programme by a group of highly talented and committed young musicians.
The Concert was sponsored by Lynn Ten Kate in memory of her friend Roland Weisz, who died a year ago.
David Lucas
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