The Celestial Harp

Mozart's famous Concerto for Flute and Harp receives a sterling performance by flutist Emmanuel Pahud and harpist Marie-Pierre Langlamet. Sir Arnold Bax's Sonatina for the same grouping is played by Marcia Dickstein on harp and Angela Wiegand on flute. A little later, you'll be surprised by a Nocturne for harp and bassoon from Francois-Joseph Naderman. Unlikely though the pairing seems, 18th-century France spawned a number of duets for these two instruments. Barry Tuckwell gives us two horn works: Richard Strauss's Horn Concerto No. 2, played with the Royal Philharmonic under Vladimir Ashkenazy, and Charles Koechlin's "Sonneries," with pianist Daniel Blumenthal. Then Franz Liszt's Piano Sonata explodes under the flying fingers of Alfred Brendel. Brendel will be playing Mozart, Schubert, and Beethoven at Carnegie Hall on April 22; check it out.