Quest

"a magnificent celebration of not only the harp itself, but of 12 radiant female composers nothing short of breathtaking This is a recording to be savoured, just like all of the works of the brilliant female artists who have contributed to Johnson's laudible recording, infused with her incredible skill and taste."

For all its celestial beauty, the harp is not always accorded the same level of respect as the more commonly heard instruments – such as the violin, piano, and cello, which have the lion's share of great concerti and solo repertoire. That this doesn't have to be the case is clear from the work of harpist Elisabeth Remy Johnson, who is not only a consummate performer but also an adept arranger/transcriber of repertoire for her instrument. Remy Johnson's new solo recording, Quest, features repertoire that in many cases she has helped bring to life – not only through her performances, but also (in many cases) through her own transcriptions of some of the pieces. Twelve women composers are represented here, in performances that are frequently revelatory. Anyone who thinks of harp music as an assortment of dainty arpeggios will be in for quite a surprise here. The sonorities and effects that Remy Johnson draws from her instrument are dazzling, sometimes astonishing. There's an entire orchestra in that harp, with passages as declarative as a brass section, along with subtle nuances that operate at the level of a whisper. Some of the works here explore adventurous sonorities, with Johanna Selleck's "Spindrift"deploying everything from seraphic arpeggios to an unsettling deep buzz. Others are more traditional, like Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel's songlike "Melodie."What all the tracks share, however, is the imaginative commitment of the harpist, who brings all the beauty and power of the music to the fore.