Harp perversely

The harp – often called an angelic instrument – is rarely associated with the avant-garde. Yet, throughout the 20th century, some of the boldest sound experiments were conducted on its strings. This recital tells the story of the modern harp – not in a decorative role, but as a fully-fledged protagonist of contemporary music.

The program features four rarely performed works by four Polish composers whose music expanded the boundaries of sonic imagination. Their approach to the harp reflects not only the changing language of music but a new way of thinking about the instrument itself – not as a source of beauty but as a tool for exploring the very limits of sound.

Artur Gelbrun, a Polish-Israeli composer, merges Mediterranean expression with Western form in his Introduction and Rhapsody (1972). The piece unfolds freely, from a moody opening to a virtuosic climax in which the harp takes on a dramatic voice rarely associated with it.

Edward Bogusławski, linked with the Polish sonorism movement, treats the harp as a laboratory of timbre in Preludio e cadenza (1977). Unusual articulations, sudden contrasts, and subtle harmonic shifts make the piece hover between structure and gesture, as if it is being composed in real time.

Roman Haubenstock-Ramati, a pioneer of graphic notation, employs an open form in Cathedrale I (likely composed in the 1980s). In this harp version, conventional techniques give way to layers of sound, which the performer arranges in time and space. The harp becomes melodic, percussive, and spatial all at once – like a sonic sculpture.

Witold Szalonek, one of the leading sonorists, explores the harp's physical possibilities in Three Sketches (1972). Extended techniques, percussive effects, and microtones all serve the search for a new sensibility. It is not improvisation, but a precisely structured work whose power lies in its unpredictability.

Each of these pieces reveals a different side of the harp – far from convention, close to the sound itself. This recital is for listeners who enjoy hearing an instrument in ways they are not used to.

Excerpt from Bogusławski's Preludio e cadenza performed by  Adrian Nowak: