MEIJER, LAVINIA

The renowned Dutch harpist Lavinia Meijer pays tribute to her musical companion Philip Glass on her new album, "Dreaming Awake." This marks her third recording dedicated to the work of Philip Glass, yet it is also her most personal: a musical homage that not only honors the composer's 90th birthday but also celebrates the special musical relationship that has shaped Meijer's artistic life for more than fifteen years.

While her earlier Glass recordings focused on compositions originally written for piano, on Dreaming Awake Meijer explores music from the entire spectrum of Glass's long and versatile body of work. This includes film scores, operas, and stage works, interpreted both as solo pieces for harp and together with some of her closest musical companions.

The album title comes from Glass's lesser-known 2002 piano piece Dreaming Awake, which was composed to benefit the Tibetan Buddhist organization Jewel Heart. For Meijer, this title expresses something essential about both Glass's music and her own interpretation: the balance between freedom and absolute concentration. The repetitive structures can induce a near-trance-like state. Precisely for this reason, however, the performer must remain alert at all times to the subtle changes within the music.