Satie Sarabandes, by Rebecca Roth

Satie Sarabandes

by Rebecca Roth

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1.	Sarabande 1 05:57	buy track
2.	Sarabande 2 06:18	buy track
3.	Sarabande 3 06:15	buy track

about

Unlike the easier, translatable-to-harp Gnossiennes and Gymnopedies, this piano music by Erik Satie required some serious rearranging and reworking. Even though the harp seems to have all the sharps and flats available to play chromatic pieces like this, it is still diatonic. That means once you are in a key, that is the key you are in. At least, until you change a pedal or flip a lever. Chromatic instruments like the piano and violin have all the keys available, all the time.

So when you do need to switch between keys, sometimes you have to change a pedal or two, or… five... in the case of Satie, all at once, in the space of one note. A little difficult to do with only two feet. To get this in even a remotely playable form, I had to perform some serious note sudoku.

One of the great things about the pedal harp (and what makes glisses sound so good) is the availability of enharmonics - A♭ and G♯ are the same note - and they can be played on two different strings (their respective strings) at the same time.

The goal was to change the notes like this so I would have, at most, only two pedals to move at a time. It was a fascinating mental exercise - a single respelling of one note and everything would magically fall into place, or the change would create a divergence and gradually destabilize the entire piece.

Compounded with the fact that my harp is old and not entirely mechanically quiet, and the lack of a studio, this is one of the most challenging projects I’ve ever done.

credits

released September 3, 2021

Recorded at home by Rebecca Roth, March 4, 2021
Mastered by Gus Elg at Sky Onion
Graphic Design by Alissa Beddow

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about

Rebecca Roth Portland, Oregon

My harp is over 100 years old. A harp gradually implodes over time. The soundboard bows out. The neck twists. The metal stretches. All this slow chaos is hidden beneath gilded gold and shiny lacquer.

I don’t know how much longer I will be privileged to play this particular instrument, and I think its age gives the sound its own patina and I’ve fallen in love with it.

I hope you enjoy it, too. ... more

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Rebecca Roth recommends:

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I'm featured on the last track, Insónia. It is a cover I recorded after hearing Tiago Sousa's composition on the piano. I highly recommend it, if I do say so myself. Rebecca Roth
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