Music For Glass Harmonica | 
 enlarge | Artist: Bloch Et Al
Label: Naxos
Category: Music
List Price: £5.99
Buy New: £2.90
You Save: £3.09 (52%)
New (16) Used (7) from £2.90
Avg. Customer Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 90702
Media: Audio CD
Running Time: 71
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
UPC: 747313529520
EAN: 0747313529520
ASIN: B00005QISL
Release Date: October 1, 2001
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Largo - Schulz | | • | Adagio - Holtz Sombach | | • | Rondeau - Reichardt | | • | Sonata No. 3 - Naumann | | • | Adagio K.V 356 (K.V.617a) Adagio und Rondo K.V.617 - Mozart | | • | Melodram | | • | Kleine Tonstucke - Rollig | | • | Trionfo della musica, cantata - Apell | | • | 1ere Suite - Holt Sombach | | • | Lucia di Lammermoor: Mad Scene - Donizetti | | • | 1ere Suite: 2eme Menuet - Holt Sombach | | • | Sancta Maria - Bloch |
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| Customer Reviews:
Perfect introduction to the glass harmonica's capabilities November 4, 2001
15 out of 15 found this review helpful
The glass harmonica was developed by Benjamin Franklin in the 18th century and its ethereal (and sometimes eery) tones led to its being called the 'angelic organ'. The sounds it produces can be tender and subtle or shrill and angry. These days it is often dismissed as a novelty - a great mistake as modern composers, like the player on this CD, Thomas Bloch, are writing works of great power for the instrument.
When it first appeared the glass harmonica attracted the attention of Mozart and his contemporaries. The CD offers music ranging from the stately and solemn to the bubbling and foot-tapping. There is Beethoven's sole work for the glass harmonica: a one minute melodrama that sounds more like a work from century the 20th than early 19th. You can also hear the mad scene from 'Lucia di Lammermoor' as Donizetti intended - with the glass harmonica playing the part nowadays taken by a brace of flutes.
Perhaps the pieces by the living composers Holt Sombach and Thomas Bloch are the most interesting of all, demonstrating the glass harmonica's emotional range in a modern setting. Bloch's 'Sancta Maria'shows off the glass harmonica's capacity for chill, crystalline runs set against rolling bell-like phrases. The work features the extraordinary voice of Fabrice Di Falco, a man whose voice ranges from soprano to baritone. The more you play this piece, the more layers of vocal and musical subtlty you discover.
Thomas Bloch plays with great skill, extracting a wider range of musical colours and tones from the glass harmonica than any player I have heard before. He also wrote the excellent jacket notes on the history of the glass harmonica. The recording is excellent and, of course, there is the added bonus of the Naxos price. Buy this CD as the perfect introduction to the glass harmonica.
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