Geoffrey Gordon's concerto for harp and orchestra, Eolian - inspired by the Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem - was commissioned by the Brussels Philharmonic and is  recorded here by the orchestra, with soloist Eline Groslot and conductor Karen Kamensek, on the Antarctica Records label. 

A new, dramatic and virtuosic concerto in three movements for harp and orchestra, Eolian draws title and inspiration from the well-known poem The Eolian Harp (1795) by English Romantic poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834). The concerto, referencing the Aeolian harp (in fact a small lute-like instrument which creates melodious music when the wind blows across its strings), channels the beauty and intensity of expression which Coleridge brings to his deeply expressive and personal text. Allegorically, the harp symbolizes the poet and the wind symbolizes God’s breath - the poem contemplates man’s relationship with nature and the divine. Both the order and chaos found in nature abound here as the orchestra’s palette evokes sensual pleasure, divine force and staggering creative power, through Gordon’s lyrical and luminous writing. A riveting and intense first movement: “A light in sound, a sound-like power in light, Rhythm in all thought, and joyance everywhere—”. The exquisite slow second movement, contemplative, hushed and suspended: “Where the breeze warbles, and the mute still air Is Music slumbering on her instrument…”, “The sunbeams dance, like diamonds, on the main...”. The apogee of nature’s beauty represented as the purest form of allure and joy in the final movement: “Bubbles that glitter as they rise and break On vain Philosophy’s aye-babbling spring…”. Gordon’s Eolian marks an outstanding addition to the harp repertoire and to 21st century orchestral music more generally.

This recording is a tribute to the chromatic harp, which, with its rich colours and theatrical effects, was perfectly tuned to the impressionist and art nouveau atmosphere of the turn of the 20th century. Geoffrey Gordon’s Jeux de Création is inspired by music from the 1920s, using both traditional and extended techniques, drawing on themes by Milhaud and Debussy to portray the past and present. Reflecting this aesthetic, the other works in this programme include the artistry of Ravel and Fauré, the quasi-orchestral effects of Debussy’s Danses, and Caplet’s sensuous and spectacular Divertissements.