Album Notes

American harpist Jacqueline Pollauf is a dynamic young performer with musical sensitivity and maturity beyond her years. Praised for playing with "glittering beauty" (Lawrence Budman, critic for the Miami Herald) and a "steady and most satisfying elegance," Ms. Pollauf's superb debut CD, "Bouquet," offers a rich and varied portrait of her instrument's repertoire from the Baroque period through the twentieth century. The album opens with "Fantaisie on a Theme of Haydn" by the renowned harpist Marcel Grandjany, a set of variations highlighting the Romantic side of the harp by way of a Classical theme. Grandjany's "Fantaisie" is followed by his transcription of the stately, lyrical "Andante" from J.S. Bach's Violin Sonata no. 2. Andre Caplet's impassioned "Divertissement a l'espagnole" alternates between rhythmic and free gestures in a work that blends French and Spanish sensibilities; the latter are explored further in Jesus Guridi's vibrant "Viejo Zortzico." Israeli composer Sergiu Natra's "Prayer" is at once introspective and expansive, using a modal language and the resonance of the harp to great effect. The album ends as it began, with a set of variations: Mikhail Mchedelov's "Variations on a Theme of Paganini" draws on the virtuoso violinist's 24th Caprice for solo violin, a source of inspiration for composers from Brahms to Rachmaninoff and beyond. Ms. Pollauf plays with warmth and clarity throughout, capturing not only the beauty listeners have come to expect from the harp, but dramatic intensity as well.