Strike-Bound Harpist

For a man who had come all the way from Europe to play one Manhattan concert, Harpist Nicanor Zabaleta had cause to be disheartened. As one of the finest harpists in the world, he could be sure of an eager audience--but equally sure that not a single kind word would appear about him next day: with the town's newspapers shut down (see PRESS), the music critics of the dailies had no way of raising a cheer.

Zabaleta rippled out a notable program anyhow. Instead of the usual keyboard music arranged for the harp, he played nothing that was not written specifically for his instrument. Instead of misty sound effects and undulating glissandos that have become a trademark of harp performances, he played clean-cut melody and counterpoint. High point: Hindemith's Sonata (1939), with its ear-twisting harmonies and Celtic echoes.

At 46, Zabaleta is too well established to suffer from the silence of the Manhattan press. Basque-born (he now makes his home in Puerto Rico) Zabaleta has been a student of the harp since seven, a recitalist since 22. After early successes in Europe, he turned to Latin America, and has made more than 1,000 appearances there, but only after an interval of bad luck: he had barely started when he caught a fungus infection in his fingers. For four years he was limited to teaching (in the Caracas conservatory). But "I do not have the teacher's mentality," he says, and he went back to the stage as soon as he could.

Since there was little available music for solo harp and he has "no ability for composing" either, Zabaleta decided that he must uncover music written for the harp rather than resort to arrangements. For a year and a half he searched the libraries of Europe, turned up some surprising finds, e.g., harp music by one of Bach's sons, by Beethoven, Handel and Faure, as well as by early Spanish and French composers. That still left one gap: the moderns. To fill it, Zabaleta began badgering living composers to write for the harp. So far, six concertos have been dedicated to him, including compositions by Milhaud and Villa-Lobos.

Next after his recital, Harpist Zabaleta will make a record (for Esoteric), then load his harp into an airplane and take off for a month-long Caribbean concert tour. After that he heads for more recitals in the U.S. Northwest and Alaska.

Other musicians suffered more seriously from Manhattan's newspaper strike. Among them: 66-year-old Roland Hayes, famed Negro tenor, who returned to a half-filled Carnegie Hall for his 30th anniversary concert and was greeted by a standing ovation; promising Latvian Pianist Herman Codes, 32, making his New York debut; and Negro Soprano Georgia Laster, 27, whose Town Hall recital was her prize as a winner of the Naumburg Musical Foundation contest.

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