Lavinia Meijer - Glass: Metamorphosis, The Hours (2012/2018) [Hi-Res]

My first encounter with Philip Glass in 2011 was truly one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.As a harpist I feel greatly privileged to have such new experiences – not only on stage, but alsobehind the scenes. Collaboration with composers is an important aspect of this, and new ideasnot infrequently arise through personal encounters and mutual inspiration. This was certainly thecase when I met Phil, who had never before heard his Metamorphosis live on the harp. After myinitial nervosity, tension soon melted away when I played the opening bars and he remarked “thatsounds beautiful!”.After this special encounter, I looked into other pieces by Glass that could be played on theharp. I had heard him play the Opening Piece from ‘Glassworks’ himself, a very beautiful piece inits seemingly unending interchange between the two hands. The film music for The Hours was amore tricky challenge. After examining the original score and the piano version I came to theconclusion that not all the movements could be arranged for the harp. But I managed to adapt sixof the eleven numbers, working them out with the sound of the orchestral version in mind. I hopethis CD will add an extra dimension to the performance practice of Glass’s most frequentlyperformed works.Lavinia Meijer