Elias Parish Alvars (1808 - 1849) was an English harpist and composer, and his harp concerto in G minor was composed in 1842 in Vienna. It is in the standard three movements which are marked 1. allegro moderato 2. Romanza: andante 3. Rondeau: allegro agitato. In the recording I listened to on Youtube it was played by The Bulgarian National Radio Orchestra conducted by Rossen Milanov with the solo harp being played ebulliently and brilliantly by Elizabeth Hainen.
Little is known of the rather short life of Alvars, and even less is known of how he came upon the rather strange and un-English surname. His parents were Mr and Mrs Parish, and he seemed only to have added the Alvars after his stay in Europe. He spent much of his time in Vienna, being the first harpist for the Vienna Opera and was even appointed Chamber Musician to Duke Franz Ferndinand I. One thing for certain was that he was a virtuoso harpist, and was once described by Berlioz as being "the Liszt of the harp!"
There have not been a great number of harp concertos composed, and even when used as part of an orchestra it does sometimes sadly get overlooked or drowned out adding only to the overall texture of the symphonic writing, and so when it does shine, it always fills me with joy. I adore the sound of a harp, always have, and so was more than inteersted to hear what Alvars had written.
The first movement has a long (over 2 minutes) orchestral introduction before the harp's entrance. The writing is intense, inventive, multi-layered and beautifully textured here. It is the longest of the three movements and feels a little expositional, but not overly so. The second movement however is a pure delight. A most beautiful and romantic love song. Whilst the thuird movement, a rondeau (a dance) is just that. In fact it has the most incredible solo melody which feels it ought to belong more to a song from Musical Theatre than anything. [Andrew Lloyd-Webber, eat your heart out, and don't even think about plagerising this one!]
If I have to lay any negative criticism at Alvars' feet it would be that at times the orchestra is a little under-used. The sparce scoring means that the balance between soloist and orchestra isn't always maintained; but perhaps I am being a little too picky. All in all, this is a wonderfully melodic and truly Romantic piece of writing and the solo harp part is for virtuosos only, it sounds extremely difficult, but would love to see it played live.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 7/5/20
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