Harp Concerto, Op. 25

The concerto unfolds in three movements played with a connecting link between the last two, so the harp rarely sits silent for long.

I. Allegro giusto opens with the orchestra laying out sharp, rhythmic gestures before the harp enters, establishing a give and take between soloist and ensemble. Listen for how the orchestra often steps back to bare textures, letting individual harp notes ring out.

II. Molto moderato is the emotional center, a slow movement where the harp spins long, exposed lines over hushed string harmonies. This is the movement where the harp's ability to sustain a singing tone, despite being a plucked instrument, becomes the point of the music.

III. Liberamente capriccioso, vivace begins with an unaccompanied harp cadenza, a solo passage that shows off rapid scales, glissandos (sweeping slides across the strings), and rhythmic snapping effects. The orchestra crashes back in for a driving, dance-like close built on the stamping rhythms Ginastera drew from Argentine folk music, ending the piece at full tilt.

Ginastera composed his Harp Concerto in the early 1960s on a commission from harpist Edna Phillips, completing it in 1965 after an earlier version was reworked. The premiere took place in Philadelphia in 1965, with Nicanor Zabaleta as soloist. The piece quickly entered the repertoire as one of the few 20th-century harp concertos to gain lasting traction with orchestras, prized by harpists for the way it stretches the instrument's technical range, from delicate harmonics to percussive effects struck on the frame. It draws on the rhythmic energy of Argentine folk dance that runs through much of Ginastera's output, channeled here into a virtuoso vehicle. It remains a staple choice whenever an orchestra features a harp soloist.