^{BY HOLLY HARMAN | FIRST PUBLISHED 28 NOV 2025}

The title of my album, Ground, carries layered meaning. On one level, it references the musical device ground bass – a recurring, foundational motif often used in Baroque music. On another, it conveys my emotional state: a feeling of being worn down by life and the demands of the industry. This led me to confront the expectations I felt placed upon me, and the expectations I had of myself. What kind of music am I meant to create? Am I a soloist? A chamber musician? An orchestral player? Can I be all of these things? Can I explore other genres? This album is my response to these questions, and in the process, I began to feel more grounded in who I am as an artist.

I was very fortunate to receive a grant from Arts Council England to develop and record this project, which is part of a triptych of discs by female artists and composers. It was a great opportunity to record at the fabulous School Farm Studios in Essex, with master engineer-producer Fiona Cruickshank at the helm. I also edited and mixed the album with valuable input from Alex Bonney – listening with critical ears to oneself is an intense experience, but I learnt so much about that side of the process.

I’ve always adored playing music from the stylus fantasticus movement of the Baroque era, so pieces by Marco Uccellini, Heinrich Biber, and Nicola Matteis were essential inclusions. Not much is known about Uccellini – he lived and worked in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, spending much of his career at the Farnese court in Parma. Sadly, most of his musical output has been lost, but his surviving violin works remain some of the most influential of the period. For this recording, I used a shorter, early clip-frog bow (a model dating from around 1600) and played with a ‘French’ thumb-under bow hold. This technique transforms the articulation and tonal palette, revealing a vivid expressiveness unique to this style.

^{Sonata overo Toccata quinta ‘detta Laura Rilucente’ from Holly Harman’s album, Ground}

Heinrich Biber may need no introduction to Continuo Connect readers, but this Bohemian got me hooked on Baroque repertoire very early in my discovery of 17th- and 18th-century music. For this recording, I chose to play one of the 1681 collection of violin sonatas, along with his rather humorous Sonata representativa. Biber is an absolute rock star of a composer, and I’m captivated by the fluidity and passionate expression in his writing. Sometimes, it makes no sense at all, but that’s what I love about it. The music is fiercely challenging, which made it deeply satisfying to perform – and I couldn’t have tackled it without the brilliant continuo team of Oliver John Ruthven (harpsichord), Carina Cosgrave (violone) and Kristiina Watt (theorbo).

Contemporary performance on Baroque instruments always fascinates me, and there are some fantastic proponents (Liam Byrne and Maya Kadish come immediately to mind). As a part of the ACE funding, I was able to commission a new work by composer Alice Zawadzki. Alice is a musical chameleon, best known in the jazz sphere, and is an extraordinary vocalist, violinist and composer. Her piece, Get Thee to the Trees, is a fearless and intensely expressive reflection on the stressed-out city dweller finding calm and renewal in nature and birdsong.

^{‘Get Thee To The Trees’ by Alice Zawadzki | performed by Holly Harman in Ground}

On the album, I also wanted to pay reverence to another genre of music that is dear to me – traditional folk music. The connection between Baroque and folk music is inextricable – in the 17th and 18th centuries, it was de rigueur to collect traditional melodies, and dance forms like the ‘gigue’ were staples of both the ‘sonata’ and the household. Publishers such as John Playford in London and William & Henry Neal in Dublin released traditional music collections for amateurs, with melodies that are still played in pubs and folk sessions today.

^{Holly Harman concludes her album, Ground, with a rendition of the traditional tune, ‘The Parting Glass’}

The album also features a melody by the celebrated harpist Turlough O’Carolan (1670–1738), The Fairy Queen, alongside a modern composition by my ensemble mate and famed English traditional musician, Sid Goldsmith, titled Air Like Wine. Sid is an incredible tunesmith but also a brilliant vocalist, and so we also closed the album with a rendition of The Parting Glass – a traditional song that is sung to end a session or at the end of an evening with friends.

Ground is available to purchase from Penny Fiddle Records, as well as across all streaming sites.