Yolanda Kondonassis - Sky Music (2020)

Accomplished harpist Yolanda Kondonassis demonstrates her prodigious skills rather thoroughly on this 1996 CD from Telarc. Her execution is flawless and her strength and control are apparent in the most delicate passages. The innovative techniques in Carlos Salzedo's Chanson dans la nuit make it a stunning opening, and Kondonassis delivers it with bravura playing. Gabriel Fauré's romantic Impromptu offers more conventional harp sounds -- block chords, arpeggios, glissandi -- yet its rich content makes it more expressive than the limited techniques might suggest. Debussy's Clair de lune is the most familiar piece here, and Kondonassis' arrangement is faithful to the original version for piano. Alan Hovhaness' Suite for harp is full of that composer's characteristic exotic scales and drones. While these coloristic effects often sound flat or contrived in his similarly oriented piano pieces, they are extremely effective on the harp, where the instrument's undamped sonorities let them ring out naturally. Ned Rorem's Sky Music is highly melodic and, at times, darkly dramatic, somewhat like a series of pensive songs without words. Hovhaness' fairly traditional Nocturne brings the disc to a serene close. Transferred from digital masters to disc without compression or equalization, Telarc's fine recording permits the listener to study the performances at close range. ~ Blair Sanderson