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Muhly’s quiet score (played with otherworldly clarity by Parker Ramsay) contributes its own restrained bite. When Jesus falls, the harp is briefly strummed to crack and buzz as if something had crashed into it. When Jesus dies, the sound is worse, more painful. I didn’t know that harps could make sounds like that.
Ramsay sidesteps these challenges, and the lovely if echoic acoustic of King’s College Chapel – which gives the harp a sometimes overwhelming shimmering acoustic ripple – by playing subtly with tempos and dynamics, effecting what must be some very nifty footwork on the pedals, as well as finger-twisting work on the strings. None of this effort comes across in the nuanced, insightful playing.
"I kept struggling with what my ideal 'Goldbergs' might sound like. I wanted the raw pluckiness of the harpsichord, but with the expressive qualities of the piano. About five years ago, I came to realize that the way to hear this work — and most of Bach, for that matter — as I wanted would be to use my first instrument, the modern pedal harp."
