King's College Cambridge Archives

CD Review
Harpist Parker Ramsay plays Goldbergs in King’s College Chapel

September 22, 2020 by Daniel Hathaway

by Daniel Hathaway

Johann Sebastian Bach’s Aria with Thirty Variations, nicknamed (not by the composer) after Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, the harpsichordist who was retained to play them on command for an insomniac patron, have been adapted by performers for many other instruments — most notably for the piano and most famously by Glenn Gould.

Joining a long list of arrangers, Parker Ramsay has now transcribed the Variations for the modern pedal harp, an instrument for which he holds a master’s degree from Juilliard, in addition to a degree in history from Cambridge University, plus a master’s in historical performance (organ and harpsichord) and an artist diploma (organ) from Oberlin. [Read more…]

Harpist Parker Ramsay releases Debut CD: Bach’s Goldberg Variations

September 15, 2020 by Mike Telin

by Mike Telin

“To transcribe the music of Bach is to undertake the spirit of Bach,” harpist Parker Ramsay said during a Zoom interview. “He would often transcribe his own music for other instruments, as well as music of other composers.”

On Friday, September 18, Ramsay’s debut recording, Bach: Goldberg Variations, will be released on the King’s College Recordings label. The album will be available on CD and to stream and download via all major digital music services. Recorded in King’s College Chapel in Cambridge, England, the album includes liner notes by Pulitzer Prize-winning music critic Tim Page and leading Bach scholar Burkhard Schwalbach.

Ramsay noted that people have been transcribing Bach’s music for many years for a variety of instruments including the Moog synthesizer. “I love Wendy Carlos’ Switched-on Bach,” he said. “It’s just incredible.” In his recent New York Times essay, Ramsay muses on Bach, transcriptions, and instrumentation.

When asked why he chose such an iconic work for his debut recording, Ramsay said that he wanted to present the harp as an instrument that is not just capable of playing new music or idiomatic music, but one that is worthy of the great works in the classical canon. “I also wanted to highlight all the different types of education that I have had.” [Read more…]

Organist Stephen Cleobury at St. Paul’s, Cleveland Heights (Feb. 26)

March 2, 2016 by Daniel Hathaway

by Timothy Robson

As Director of Music at King’s College, Cambridge, Stephen Cleobury presides over one of the best-known choirs in the world in the college’s famously reverberant medieval chapel, as well as over its massive organ (currently removed for a year to undergo restoration). He also maintains his own career as an international concert organist and conductor. [Read more…]

Recording review: Margaret Brouwer Rhapsodies (Naxos)

by Daniel Hathaway

Rhapsodies, Cleveland composer Margaret Brouwer’s latest recording on the Naxos American Classics label, is a retrospective of works written over the last 21 years by one of the classiest orchestral colorists in the field.

Sensitive performances of Brouwer’s well-constructed works by Marin Alsop and the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony offer examples of contemporary music that can be both sophisticated and accessible. Here’s proof that a composer’s emotional reactions to sights and sounds can be translated into music and shared with others in fresh and evocative ways. [Read on…]

Cheers, gasps, and laughter fill Blossom as “Cirque Goes Broadway” (Aug. 31)

by Stephanie Manning

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com.

CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — “Cirque Goes Broadway” takes its song titles literally.

Acrobats soar high above the stage during “Defying Gravity.” A vocalist belts “I must not fall” while a contortionist carefully balances on one hand. And the opening orchestral number, “That’s Entertainment!” lets the audience know what it’s in for.

On August 31, conductor Lucas Waldin led the Akron Symphony Orchestra at Blossom Music Center in an evening of Broadway hits combined with acrobatics from the Big Top.

[Read on…]

Isabelle and Raphaël Olivier evoke French sensibility at Reithoffer’s (Aug. 23)

by Kevin McLaughlin

Harpist Isabelle Olivier and her son, guitarist Raphaël Olivier, combined for an eclectic program of smart, original compositions and unexpected covers on Friday evening, August 23. The charming nightclub setting of Reithoffer’s (called Hoff’s by regulars), 10 miles east of Chagrin Falls, is an especially agreeable place to hear music.

Raphaël, age 27, who did most of the talking, charmed us right off with the duo’s origin story: “We’re from a small town outside Paris, but have now lived in Chicago twelve years. I’ve been a US citizen for a month and have less of a French accent, but Isabelle has more.”

This also applied to their musical accents. [Read on…]

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