The harp is often known for its dreamy, magical sound, but we don't often hear it as a solist in front of a symphony orchestra. The harp concerto as a format is quite rare, but during the pandemic-induced lockdowns, composer Martin Stauning wrote a new one for the Danish National Symphony Orchestra's young solo harpist Zachary Hatcher.

On YouTube, a concert recording of the Harp Concerto has been played over 22.000 times. On Friday 19 August, the world premiere recording of the work will be released as a digital album.

The harpist as a puppeteer

In Martin Stauning's work, we often experience the power of what is left unsaid – in the space between the notes, in elusive rhetoric or theatrical suggestion. However, in the Harp Concerto, Stauning took a rather concrete starting point.

One of the initial concepts was to see the harpist as a puppeteer pulling strings. Every time the harpist plucked a string there would be an instantaneous or ‘mirror’ reaction from within the orchestra – as if the ensemble were a giant puppet theatre under the harp’s control.

'Over time, it became apparent that the strings acted as bars under which the harpist was physically trapped and unable to escape’, says Martin Stauning. At the concerto’s conclusion, he explains, the harpist ‘literally sits and tears the strings and simply cannot get out.’

Technical challenges

Stauning's Harp Concerto adresses themes such as isolation and confinement, and contains a darkness which is rarely connected with the harp. But the concerto also contains techincal elements, which have not been seen before on the harp.

During the writing process, Stauning continuosly sent fragments and drafts to Zachary Hatcher, who (according to the composer) did not really seem to have many techincal limitations. Together, the composer and the harpist explored the boundaries for what is technically possible on the harp. For that reason, some passages did not fall into place until shortly before the first performance of the work, for example a particularly challenging passage in which the harpist plays sixty-fourth note trills for a minute and a half.

A young star solist

Martin Stauning's Harp Concerto was commissioned by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra for its own solo harpist, American harpist Zachary Hatcher (b. 1996).

Hatcher has played the harp most of his life; he started already when he was four years old. As a 16-year-old, Zachary Hatcher was admitted to Juilliard Pre College, a preschool to the famous New York Conservatory and two years later, he was admitted to the Paris Conservatory. After just one year of study in Paris, Hatcher won the Honour Award at the international Léopold Bellan Soloist Competition in Paris. The following year, in 2016, he was named solo harpist in the Danish National Symphony Orchestra.

The concerto had its first performance in May 2021 by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and conductor Joshua Weilerstein, who is also conducting this live recording.

A very popular concert recording of the work is available on YouTube. Watch here. 

Pre-save the album to your streaming service here.