LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

• Suite Luther - III. Chorale Fantasy: Ein' feste Burg

"Here is a fine composer with her own unique voice. She has a gift for melody, is a fine orchestrator and is obviously skilled at counterpoint and harmony. Added to this, the London Philharmonic Orchestra is very fine and conductor David Angus obviously provides great insight into how this music should be performed. I look forward to hearing more of her work."

Geoff Pearce, Classical Music Daily [September 2020]

"MSR Classics gives the listener good fidelity on this new collection of Harbach’s work,I think this disc or download belongs in everyone’s collection of American music."

Maria Nockin, Fanfare [May/June 2020]

"...conductor David Angus and the London Symphony Orchestra offer performances that are admirable in quality of execution and tonal beauty. The recorded sound is first-rate, conveying the brightness of Harbach’s sound world without a hint of glare or stridency. Fine program notes (by the composer?) round out this admirable project. If you enjoy Barbara Harbach’s music, you don’t need my recommendation of this disc. If you are unfamiliar with Harbach’s work, and are interested in contemporary orchestral music couched in an individual, communicative, and lovely idiom, I am sure you will find much to enjoy. Recommended."

Ken Meltzer, Fanfare [May/June 2020]

"Barbara Harbachexhibits a very strong lyrical impulse with a gift for composing melodic lines that stay in the memory. The performances seem committed and are certainly well played, and the recorded sound is natural and clean. The composer’s notes are helpful and informative. This is a disc of refreshingly enjoyable new orchestral music."

Henry Fogel, Fanfare [May/June 2020]

"Her energy is seemingly inexhaustible, and I am glad to report that her musical imagination sustains a high level of exuberance, invention, melodic attractiveness, and curiosity about new themes and musical languages. This enjoyable disc is evidence of all those things, and the performances under David Angus leading a somewhat reduced London Philharmonic are everything they should be—warmly recommended."

Huntley Dent, Fanfare [May/June 2020]

"Barbara Harbach’s music continues to impress; her voice is original, her fertility seemingly unending."

Colin Clarke, Fanfare [May/June 2020]

"This splendid recording by the London Philharmonic Orchestra of four richly romantic works written by Barbara Harbach in 2017 shows off her virtuosity as an orchestrator and the LPO’s virtuosity as an orchestra. Harbach’s subtle, evocative and colourful handling of the range of musical influences she incorporates seamlessly and organically into the score reflects her scholar’s knowledge of the music of the time and her fine recordings of Bach.The sensuous longings of Arabesque noir...are made out of decorative graces and flourishes, overflowing with excellent brass solos and haunting xylophone touches, featuring a wonderful, too brief violin solo in the third movement.The sound, recorded in Cadogan Hall, London, is particularly flattering to the winds and brass, while the detailed booklet notes could almost substitute for the musical score."

Laurence Vittes, Gramophone [May 2020]

"Barbara Harbach has long since established her own way of using the orchestra for expressive purposes... Suite Luther is the most interesting of the pieces here, building its five movements on three of Martin Luther’s hymns... The comparative familiarity of Ein’ feste Burg helps make Suite Luther approachable and intelligible – this hymn appears in three of the five movements – and Harbach finds some interesting ways to develop her material... the work [is] understandable and emotionally satisfying, and its mixture of contemporary rhythms and harmonies with those of earlier times produces a sense both of updating and of continuity with the past. The three other suites on this disc [are] very well-played throughout by the London Philharmonic Orchestra under David Angus... Harbach is a skilled orchestrator"

Mark J. Estren, InfoDad [March 2020]

"After [listening] that for a few hours, I sought words to properly describe her sonic poetic art... She has indeed greatly expanded the musical possibilities for telling stories in sound rather than in words. Her music is also very enjoyable because it composed out of her appreciation and respect for the musical traditions from the 18th and 19th centuries. She obviously did not abandon them for the acrimony of contemporary-style music that tends to reflect our troubled world. Her compositions are beautifully performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra."

Joel C. Thompson, Cherry Grove Music Review [March 2020]

"The prolific Barbara Harbach has a good number of releases of her music on MSR [and her latest] has caught my ear in good ways and so I report in on it for you... The first thing you might notice on hearing the program is how the music comes alive thanks to the very fine performances of the London Philharmonic Orchestra under David Angus... All four works have substance and girth... Harbach orchestrates with a flair and a nice sense of the totality... winds and brass nicely balance strings throughout. She has a subtle way. She clearly knows what she is after and gets it... an unassuming and open expression [flows] naturally and assuredly... [Harbach's works] hold much interest even after hearing a good number of times as I have done this past week. Barbara Harbach shows off some genuine talent here. This is one good showing and I do not hesitate to recommend it to you if you are someone who wants to be abreast of what is happening right now, or simply wants to hear good music."

Grego Applegate Edwards [February 2020]

  Barbara Harbach has a large catalog of works, including symphonies, operas, works for string and chamber ensemble, choral anthems, ballet, musicals and film scores, pieces for organ, harpsichord and piano, and arrangements of Baroque works for brass and organ. A gifted performer as well, Harbach has toured extensively as both concert organist and harpsichordist throughout the United States and Canada, and overseas throughout Europe and Asia. Her lively performances and recordings have captured the imagination of many American composers; the body of work written for and dedicated to her is substantial. Harbach is also heavily involved in the research, editing, publication and recording of manuscripts of 18th century keyboard composers, as well as historical and contemporary women composers. A prolific composer, Harbach’s work is published by Vivace Press, Robert King Music, Elkan-Vogel Augsburg Fortress, Encore Music Publishers, Art of Sound Music and Agape Music. As a highly active recording artist, her performances are available from MSR Classics, Naxos, Gasparo Records, Kingdom Records, Albany Records, Northeastern Records and Hester Park. Harbach, who serves as editor of the WomenArts Quarterly Journal, initiated Women in the Arts in St. Louis, a celebration of the achievements of women creators. More than 800 events by cultural organizations in the region have provided audiences with new and historical examples of the work of women writers, composers and artists. In recognition of this achievement, she received the Arts Education Award from the Missouri Arts Council, the Missouri Citizen for the Arts Award, the Yellow Rose Award from the Zonta International Club of St. Louis, and the Faculty Excellence Award from the College of Fine Arts and Communication at the University of Missouri in St. Louis. The winner of numerous awards and honors, Harbach received the Hellenic Spirit Foundation Award, the Grand Center Visionary Award for “Successful Working Artist,” the Argus Foundation Award, and the YWCA Leader of Distinction Award in the Arts. She was recently named National Arts Associate Distinguished Member of the Buffalo Chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota, and one of the “30 Most Innovative Women Professors Alive Today.” Harbach is also the recipient of an honorary doctorate in music, Honoris Causa, from Wilmington College, Ohio for her lifetime achievement as a composer, performer, editor and publisher. Currently a Curators’ Distinguished Professor Emerita of Music at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, Harbach holds academic degrees from Pennsylvania State University (BA), Yale University (MMA), Musikhochschule (Konzertdiplom) in Frankfurt, and the Eastman School of Music (DMA). [ www.barbaraharbach.com ]

Born in England, David Angus spent his early years in Belfast. He was a boy chorister at King’s College, Cambridge, under Sir David Willcocks, and read music at Surrey University where he specialized as a pianist. He finished his training with a Fellowship in Conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, where he won several prizes for his opera conducting. In the United States, Angus has appeared with the Utah Symphony and San Antonio Symphony, in Canada with the Calgary Philharmonic, and in the United Kingdom with many of their major orchestras, including the Royal Philharmonic, Hallé Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Ulster Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Northern Sinfonia. He appears regularly with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and London Mozart Players, both in concert and in the studio, and also conducts across Europe, particularly in Denmark and in Scandinavia, where he is a regular guest with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra. Angus is Music Director of Boston Lyric Opera and Honorary Conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of Flanders, following several successful years there as Principal Conductor. He is heard frequently on BBC Radio 3 and on stations in Austria, Ireland, Holland, Denmark, Italy and Belgium. BARBARA HARBACH
SUITE LUTHER
I. Motet – A Fortress Strong
II. In Peace and Joy I Now Depart
III. Chorale Fantasy: Ein’ feste Burg
IV. From Deepest Depths I Cry to You
V. Ein’ Feste Finale

ARABESQUE NOIR
I. Looking for an Angel
II. Evening Love
III. In the Still, I Will Wait

EARLY AMERICAN SCANDALS
I. Love – Revenge
II. River Styx
III. The Vulture Hours
IV. Virginia’s Real Reel

RECITATIVE AND ARIA
I. Recitative – Soliloquy
II. Aria – Our Love Forever New



MSR Classics