SOUNDTRACK: BRIDGET KIBBEY-Tiny Desk Concert #930 (January 8, 2020).
I love the harp. Ever since I took a very brief class in grad school (like 4 weeks), where I learned exactly how to play one, I’ve wanted to buy one (that’s an expensive hobby).
Harps are usually thought of as celestial instruments, think “the stereotype of the genteel harp, plucked by angels.”
But the range on the harp is unreal–47 strings! Such highs and lows. And the things usually weigh a ton (not literally, or maybe literally). When I saw Joanna Newsom, I was delighted to see her play a harp from relatively up close.
Now here is Bridget Kibbey.
Kibbey is crazy for the harp. She first heard one at a country church amid the Northwest Ohio cornfields where she grew up. Now she’s the go-to harpist for contemporary composers, some of whom who are writing pieces especially for her.
To be able to watch Kibbey play these pieces up close is breathtaking. She starts with Bach (arr. Kibbey): “Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565.” Yes, that one, the one we all know on the organ. Well, hearing it on the harp is a whole new experience and watching her steamroll through as her fingers fly all over the place is wonderful. You can marvel as she “offers tightly interwoven voices, like gears in a clock, with melodies and rhythms that sparkle.”
She says she transcribed the piece for the harp on a bet. It gives her a chance to explore Baroque counterpoint and the drama of this piece. And does she ever.
The second piece is by the “great living jazz artists Paquito D’Rivera” from Cuba. He plays clarinet and saxophone and wrote “Bandoneon” (arr. Kibbey) for piano, which she transcribed for harp. It is an Argentine tango and is really terrific. I love how she keeps that bass line steady while the high notes fly around the harp.
Kibbey is really fun and boisterous and she’s very excited about her instrument. It’s fun to hear her talk about what she’s going to be playing next.
The final piece is a “little ditty” she grew up singing in the cornfields of Ohio. It’s Bach (arr. Kibbey): “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded” from St. Matthew Passion.
I see that she has played Princeton a few times in the past. I sure hope she comes back!
[READ: January 9, 2020] “The Country in the Woman”
This story was published this month in a collection of previously unpublished work.
I don’t believe I’ve read much by Hurston and I was a a little put off that this story is written in partial dialect.
Looka heah Cal’line, you oughta stop dis heah foolishness you got.
But I quickly got over that as I saw what she was doing with the story.
Caroline and her man, Mitchell, are from Florida but they have moved to New York City. The New Yorkers all want Caroline to be more like a New Yorker but they know you can’t get rid of “the country in the woman.” (more…)
I Just Read About That... 