How do you describe the sheer beauty and joy of Emily Granger’s live harp performance? It’s impossible but I’ll give it a try.
There’s something otherworldly about the harp. The Lyres or Harps of Ur are the oldest surviving stringed instruments in the world. They were made of cedar, boxwood, gold, silver and lapis lazuli. Four and a half thousand years later, the classical harp that Emily borrowed for the evening is still a work of art, crafted from wood, decorated with gold.
If you close your eyes, you can picture yourself as part of tradition that has survived since ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, evolving through the feasting halls of Ireland and Scotland’s Celtic chiefs, to the Royal palaces of France and Italy.
Nothing will ever replace the wonder and magic of being there, in the room, with a world-class musician, holding an audience enraptured.
In movies, the purity of harp music can be heartbreaking. You feel like you’re holding your breath, like the world is somehow spinning more slowly.
The delicate sounds of the harp defy words and conjure feelings and images, like a magic spell.
I found myself imaging a tiny child, wearing a princess dress and a pair of dress-up fairy wings, running barefoot through soft wet grass, gumboots in hand, after a rain spell. I wondered what everyone else in the audience was feeling or seeing in their mind’s eye.
As Emily said, “I hope with everything going on in the world, that this music makes you feel a little lighter.”
Emily’s new album, “A Thing Of Beauty,” is an absolute delight. It’s a wonderful treasure house full of new compositions, and we were blessed to have four of the composers sitting alongside us in the Sydney Opera House’s Utzon Room.
The evening’s performance sparkled with new music including “Emily’s Suite,” composed by Alice Chance, and “sanddollar,” composed by Sarah Elise Thompson. We journeyed from reminiscences of winters’ past to Californian beaches, from Christina Rossetti’s poetry to lullabies gifted to newborn babies.
Granger is a warm and natural performer, telling us little personal stories of visiting the tiny village of Karoola in Tasmania. She recited poet Hilary Burden’s four Karoola Seasons haikus; Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, and played the four harp pieces they inspired, composed by Christina Sonnemann Baehr.
Granger’s versatility and talent are matched by her devotion to music. Her new album, “A Thing Of Beauty,” is full of new harp music that she has commissioned, creating incredible opportunities for contemporary composers.
As Emily told the audience, “I believe in creating a little happiness every day.”
Emily Granger’s new album, ‘A Thing Of Beauty,’ released through ABC Classic, is now available on CD and streaming.
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/classic/shop/emily-granger-a-thing-of-beauty/106866470
You can find Emily Granger online at:
https://emilygranger.com/
To book tickets to Emily Granger Solo Album Tour, please visit https://emilygranger.com/a-thing-of-beauty.
