Cohen's music on harp (St. Moritz, July 22) + soon on CD

[Goldin]

"BSI Engadin Festival" offers classical and folk music, with a focus on harp performances, featuring compositions by Liszt, Smetana, Beethoven, Leonard Cohen and Nick Drake.

(an announcement from Wall Street Journal)

http://www.engadin-festival.ch/index.ph ... id=534&L=0, abstract:

Freitag, 22. Juli 2011 - 20.00 Uhr
Kirche San Gian, Celerina [near St. Moritz, Switzerland]

Giovanna Pessi, Barockharfe [Baroque harp]; Susanna Walllumrød, Stimme [vocal]; Marco Ambrosini, Nyckelharpa [read @ wikipedia]

Songs von Henry Purcell, Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake und Susanna Wallumrød

Gemeinsam kreiert das Trio ein sehr persönliches neues Klangbild für die Songs des englischen Barockkomponisten Henry Purcell, interpretiert aber auch Musik aus den 70er Jahren des 20.Jahrhunderts [1970s (!!)] von den Singer-Songwritern Leonard Cohen und Nick Drake, hinzu kommen die frisch komponierten Songs von Susanna Wallumrød. Die CD-Einspielung wird voraussichtlich in der zweiten Jahreshälfte 2011 bei ECM erscheinen. [The CD recording will be released in the second half of 2011 on ECM.]

[DBCohen]

I happened to read about this album somewhere else, and although in principle I dislike LC covers (except for those by Jennifer Warnes), it sounded interesting, so I ordered a copy.

The album is called “If Grief Could Wait” (recorded November 2010, produced by ECM records, a nice booklet attached) , and it features the following:

Giovanna Pessi - baroque harp
Suzanna K. Wallumrød - voice
Jane Actman - viola da gamba
Marco ambrosini - nyckelharpa

The album has 13 tracks, more than half of them by Henry Purcell, a few by Wallumrød, and two by LC: “Who By Fire” and “You Know Who I Am”. Although I was not expecting much, I was disappointed. Wallumrød is a good singer, but her voice is not unique or impressive in any way (and there are traces of Scandinavian accent in her English singing). Her rendition of LC’s songs was over-dramatized. The rest of the album was not particularly satisfying either, so I can’t really recommend it, although there may be some who would enjoy it more than I did.