For what it is, this disc is as good as it gets. What it is isn't a sublime symphonic masterpiece like
Beethoven's Ninth or an emotional operatic masterpiece like
Puccini's La bohème or an intimate pianistic masterpiece like
Chopin's Nocturnes. What it is is an evocative collection of harp masterpieces like nothing you've ever heard in this world before. Carlos Salzedo's music is one thing -- shinning and shimmering sets of short character pieces conceived and executed for the harp --
Sarah Schuster Ericsson's playing is another thing -- so clean and strong, so radiant and polished as to be practically perfect -- but the very recording itself is something else altogether -- something so transparent and translucent that it hardly seems to be there at all. So while Salzedo's music may eventually seem short winded -- there are 39 tracks on this disc and most of them last less than two minutes -- and
Ericsson's playing may ultimately seem too perfect -- there are zillions of notes on this disc and she nails every single one of them with incredible precision -- the palpable virtual reality of this recording made at Skywalker Sound puts every nuance of Salzedo's music and
Ericsson's performance in an idealized acoustic space 10 feet in front of the listener.