KATRINA SZEDERKÉNYI

• Parish-Alvars: Grande Fantaisie (excerpt)

“This is much more than another easy-listening harp collection. The repertory is varied and challenging...[Katrina Szederkenyi] plays all these pieces with consummate delicacy and surprising colors… the harp is the most fantastical and wispy of instruments, yet also ideal for articulating complex architectures. [Szederkenyi] understands both capabilities, as is evident in both her subtle playing and choice of repertory… The recording is clear but has a mysterious sheen that is ideal for the material.”

Sullivan, American Record Guide [July/August 2015]

“[Bach's] sprawling, emotion-laden Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue loses none of its effect when played on the harp by a fine artist. Although written for the harpsichord, the arpeggios of the second section make the work a natural for the harp. Szederkényi’s rendition is quite fascinating because she can play the technically difficult passagework and bring out the passion in the Recitativo.... Szederkényi plays [Parish-Alvars’s Fantasy and Bravura Variations on Italian Themes] with lush tones and impeccable dexterity... Szederkényi plays [Les Elfes] with finely detailed articulation and ravishing tone. This CD should be of interest to anyone who needs beautiful, diversionary music for a gathering as well as to those who love or play the harp.”

Maria Nockin, Fanfare [July/August 2015]

“This album offers not only a portrait of an exceptionally talented young harpist, but also a handy catalogue of harp style and techniques from across four centuries.”

Rick Anderson, CD Hotlist for Libraries [February 2015]

“Katrina Szederkényi is one of the finest harpists I have heard. She is well recorded at the iStrings Studio, Heulengbach, Austria; indeed the recording brings out some lovely timbres and details. Highly recommended.”

Bruce Reader, The Classical Reviewer [October 2014]

“[This CD features] very fine, committed performances that successfully bring out the best qualities that the various composers have to offer in these works. The Katrina Szederkényi disc from MSR Classics is more than a virtuoso showcase: it is a demonstration, if another one is necessary, of just how good Bach’s music can sound even on instruments for which it was not written... the transparency of sound that Szederkényi’s playing brings to the music, particularly the fugal portion, provides genuine insights into Bach’s structure – as well as considerable listening pleasure. Szederkényi also does a marvelous job with Joaquín Turina’s Tocata y Fuga—Cicle Pianístico I, Op. 50... The three other works on this CD are...played with very considerable skill. [The Grande Fantaisie et Variations] gives Szederkényi ample opportunity to display her sheer virtuosity… this is a highly impressive recital by a first-rate harpist who shows herself adept in music from several different time periods.”

Mark J. Estren, InfoDad [September 2014]

[ * * * * ] “This delightful album shows exactly why the harp is such a polarizing instrument. It’s all or nothing—the expressive intimacy of the thing allows only two choices—full attention or complete background music. No other alternative is available! When is it played with such delicacy of touch and riveting technical acumen as here, and when the music is all quite engaging and intricate, as it also is here, the poor listener doesn’t have much of a chance. Down goes the book you were reading and up go the aural antennas, helpless in their captivity to the ravishing nuances of 47 resonant strings... This is [Szederkenyi's] second album, and quite a treat it is. The sound, recorded at the iStrings Studio in Austria, is resonant, enveloping, and full.”

Steven Ritter, Audiophile Audition [September 2014]

“Katrina Szederkényi has come out with a gorgeous-sounding, consistently pleasing recital of works from Bach to the present that show off all the finer qualities of her instrument... In the [Bach] Fugue, precise articulation of notes for which the harp is also well-equipped, and which Szederkényi realizes so beautifully, make the subjects stand out in high resolution... Elsewhere on the program, the rich scalar passges, brilliant glissandi, and glowing chords of the Italian Fantasy of Elias Parish-Alvars and the galloping rhythms of Legende by Henriette Renié give Szederkényi plenty of opportunity to show her virtuosity ”

Phil Muse, Audio Society of Atlanta [August 2014]

Perhaps more than any other pairing in Western art music, the combination of the Fantasia and the Fugue best represents the diverse demands made of the musician. The performance of a fugue requires rigor, precision, complete control of voicing and acuity of touch. On the other hand, the fantasia calls on the musician to express his personal artistry, the magic and majesty of his vision, he is permitted to escape the bar-line – it is the inner life articulated. This recital cunningly integrates works which call for both mastery of fugal writing (as in the works of J.S. Bach, Turina and Kimbell) and of immense imaginative skill (as with the works of Parish-Alvars and of Renié). One might easily argue that the unique and varied colors of the harp, by turns hazy and full of warmth, but with precise and percussive attack, make it suited above almost any other instrument to render such music.


Born in Canada, Katrina Szederkényi is an internationally acclaimed harpist, having won numerous prizes at international competitions in Belgium, Hungary and Russia. Szederkényi started playing the harp at the age of 12, and was accepted for full-time solo instrumental studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna after only four years. In 2013, she graduated with a soloist’s  diploma with distinction from the Hochschule für Musik in Frankfurt, under the tutelage of Prof. Françoise Friedrich. An active orchestral musician, Szederkényi has performed in numerous notable orchestras, including the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and the Vienna State Opera Orchestra. She has worked with prominent conductors including Pierre Boulez, Riccardo Muti, Christian Thielemann, Herbert Blomstedt and Riccardo Chailly. As a chamber musician, she has performed with members of the Wiener Philharmoniker and the Gewandhausorchester. Szederkényi is also highly active in broadening the harpist’s repertoire, for both soloists and chamber musicians. In 2009, she premiered Poème by Michael Kimbell, a work for violin and harp written for her and Nandor Szederkényi, her father and chamber music partner. Kimbell’s Ballade Arctique, also written for Katrina, was premiered in 2013.

[www.harpist.eu] JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750)
CHROMATIC FANTASIA AND FUGUE, BWV 903
Fantasia – Recitativo
Fugue

ELIAS PARISH-ALVARS (1808-1849)
GRANDE FANTAISIE ET VARIATIONS DE BRAVOURE
SUR DES MOTIFS ITALIENS, OP.57

MICHAEL KIMBELL (b.1946)
World Premiere Recording
BALLADE ARCTIQUE (2013)

JOAQUÍN TURINA (1882-1949)
TOCATA Y FUGA – CICLO PIANÍSTICO I, OP.50 (1928)
Tocata
Fuga

HENRIETTE RENIÉ (1875-1956)
LÉGENDE D’APRÈS LES ELFES DE LECONTE DE LISLE (1904)
 



MSR Classics