The recently rediscovered Swedish harpist and composer Anton Edvard Pratté (1796-1875), once described by his contemporaries as "the Harpking of the North", wrote over two hundred pieces and enjoyed an highly-praised career as a harp virtuoso, both in Scandinavia and Continental Europe, alongside other illustrious figures such as Elias Parish-Alvars (1808-1849) and Nicholas-Charles Bochsa (1789-1856). A critic interestingly compared Pratté´s playing with the latter, stating that Pratté was "the teacher" and Bochsa "the student"!

The composing style of Pratté is a cross-over between classical elements that remind of Mozart, Haydn, Hummel or Boieldieu and Romantism, including influences from Beethoven, Weber and the italian Bel Canto. He is unanimously praised as a composer by the critics for "his savoir-faire , his sense for instrumentation, full and harmonic, as well as his sense for form".

He wrote concertos, chamber music works with or without harp, overtures, symphonies, grand oratorios, hunting songs, and official pieces for the Swedish Royal Court. His compositions also include numerous virtuosic works for solo-harp, often fantasies based on opera themes or folk melodies coming from the european regions and countries where he was performing.

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We are extremely grateful to harpist Delphine Constantin-Reznik for the opportunity for us to undertake this project. Also, of course, for her dedication, hard work, enthusiam and diligence throughout this huge project.

This is one of numerous Edvard Pratté compositions to be published by Alaw in the immediate future.