Sunday, April 26, 2020

Sunday morning music


Here's something different for music fans of every genre, and an introduction to a very versatile young lady.  Harpist Amy Turk has composed and performed in genres ranging from power metal, through folk music, to classical.  She graduated with a Masters degree from the Royal Academy of Music in London, England, in 2014.

Her last performance at the Academy has become a hit worldwide.  From her bio at her Web site:

For her final recital Amy transcribed and arranged J.S. Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV565, drawing heavily from the original organ score and consulting with organists at the Academy in order to properly convey the timbral details of the original work, in addition to incorporating authentic German baroque ornamentation.

I'd never have thought of the Toccata and Fugue as a harp piece, but Ms. Turk delivers a virtuoso performance.





To demonstrate her cross-genre versatility, here she is with Billy Idol's "White Wedding".





And, continuing the marital theme from the world of folk music, the very well-known "Mairi's Wedding".





You'll find more of her work on her YouTube channel. I think she's off to a great start to what I hope will be a long musical career.

Peter

3 comments:

libertyman said...

Wow what a talent. An interesting mix of genres.

Ben Yalow said...

Absolutely.

And she does a wonderful job of working within (and stretching) the limits of her instrument. Bach wrote the Toccata and Fugue in d for the organ, which has more range, and also allows more notes to be played at the same time, since the organist is working with both hands and feet. I also like her choice of tempo -- she doesn't rush through it the way Anthony Newman does, nor stretch it out and make it a bit too ponderous the way Xaver Varnus does (and that's very much a personal choice, since I picked two brilliant extremes, both worth listening to). But, in the end, I still like the Karl Richter version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98w25S5yASc

And thank you for giving me another musician to follow.

Old NFO said...

Very nice! And hope she does well in the future!!!