Francois Boieldieu - Concert for Harp & Strings in C - I. Allegro (Marisa Robles)

While he is a mere footnote in today's musical history texts, Boieldieu was once phenomenally popular in Paris and achieved great success in theatric works, among them the opera "La dame blanche", selections from which are included in my playlists. Let us now pass onto a purely instrumental work of no lesser interest.

Written at the tender age of twenty, Boieldieu's Concerto in three movements betrays the composer's operatic roots, similar to Mercadante's flute concertos. It opens with a long allegro section of some charm: a typically extroverted orchestral opening leads to the harp's more relaxed playing that settles into numerous roulandes of various difficulty. The second movement, marked Andante lento, sounds for all the world like a dramatic cantabile for soprano transcribed for harp, and it is as beautiful as any such scene. The strings' sighing lines provide a slightly oppressive backdrop for the harp's gentle plucking but the piece settles for a much lighter mood in its' central bars, before returning, though, to the original sombre atmosphere which serves as a perfect transition for the next movement. The third section is marked as Allegro agitato, and the name does not lie: the harp abandons the lyricism of the second section for confused, richly ornamented lines but this musical idea is used to flank the central cadential sequences, set to a sunnier melody of tantalizing virtuosity (special mention should be given to the extremely brilliant cadence at 2:08 in the second posting). A superbly rich musical experience, all in all.

Marisa Robles is completely at ease with the idiom and her playing is consistently warm and sympathetic. Hope you'll enjoy :)!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• coloratura
• Boieldieu
• classical
• belcanto
• harp

[tamerlan1967]

So many years without hearing this master piece, thanks for sharing!

[ShareArgPatag]

Tried uploading 3 times, suddenly all three went together!

[ShareArgPatag]

A beautiful concerto I heard all through my youth.We, the LONG PLAY generation. Though Nicanor Zabaleta at the time. Thank you so much for all the emotions it brings back. Always grateful to all who upload such wonderful music.

[ShareArgPatag]

A beautiful concerto I heard all through my youth.We, the LONG PLAY generation. Though Nicanor Zabaleta at the time. Thank you so much for all the emotions it brings back. Always grateful to all who upload such wonderful music.

[HM0880]

Charming, beautiful, and wonderful. I love it. :) Thank you!

[GothicalSOberhauser]

What a gorgeous concerto, and an absolutely amazing painting! It touches the very deep of my soul! :D It's almost like it speaks... like it moves! :D

[johnhofi]

many thanks to the one who chose the painting for this musical piece. Beautiful painting...absolutely beautiful

[YaelBerman]

I happend to hear this concert (and about the composer) just today and I´m very happy to have found it here too. Thank you very much for sharing it with everybody :)

[annicka02]

Robles: quelle élégance et solidité du jeu! Ce n'est malheureusement pas le cas de l'orchestre monochrome et sans rhétorique qui l'accompagne avec force vibrato omniprésent. Où est l'éloquence du romantisme, aplatie par des théories des années 30?