This is an enchanting release. Francesca Romana Di Nicola is an expert harpist, caught in a recording that is close enough to reveal every nuance yet sufficiently distanced to create a sense of space around the music. The music was composed in 2020, and Miniature is split into six sections each, apart from the last, split into a number of sub-movements. A total of 27 short movements comprises this completion, each inspired by an emotion, a childhood memory, or even a place significant to Di Nicola.

From the very first section, “Meanders of Time,” the music instantly draws the listener in via its first movement, “The Wait.” The performances are little short of spectacular. Each is accompanied in the booklet by a “poetic reflection,” the two complementing each other perfectly. The music is gentle and occasionally piquant (as in “Passage,” the fourth movement), while the flow of the music in “Thought,” the final piece in that group, mirrors the first line of the accompanying poem, “A liquid breath.”

The second group is “Fractions of Time,” beginning with the incredibly touching “Memories”; the music seems to describe in sound how memories of places can suddenly bubble up out of nowhere. (The poem specifies it was written “In Zelatun, contemplating the peak of Ernio.”) Debussyan arpeggiations, as if from a harp transcription of a rediscovered Prélude, suffuse “Joking,” while “Simply” (“Lying in the pastures of Aralar”) brings in a slight swing, itself hinted at towards the end of “Joking.” This second group is more animated than the first, with the poignant “On the Ship” providing a thoughtful conclusion. As one listens to this disc it slowly dawns on one that Di Nicola’s melodies are inspired throughout, but this last in particular stands out.

Many movements are inspired by Nature, so it is unsurprising that the longest, “Sunset” from “The comings and goings of time” (the third group) extends to over four minutes. Interestingly, though, it is the following shorter “Moments of the East” that is more substantive in content, its harmonic references reaching out in the direction of the title (the text references a Japanese pagoda). The gentle dance of “Looking for” is the first that really exudes nostalgia in any sort of sentimental way.

The next section, “The Embrace of Time,” begins with “The Double Mirror.” Inspired by “sky and water in the Ptillas Lagoon,” the music has a gentle waft to it, deliciously rendered by Di Nicola. It is a nice touch, as in the Japanese movement, to bring in local harmonic color for “Arabic Habanera” (which poem was written in front of Tudela Cathedral). The music seems to flow over a cushion of time itself, gentle yet unstoppable. Based on an unfinished score by Peñas de Ayo, “Improvisation of the Earth” is tissue delicate—quite surprisingly, given that the text includes “da capo, forte,” a reference to the unending variations on the melodies of nature herself.
The penultimate “The Non-Time of Time” begins with a fish contemplating the human comedy, a lovely image. In fact, sometimes the poetry is more striking than the music itself. (“A dragon of rocks / dives into the sea,” begins the second movement, “The Trust.”) Time stands still in “The Garden,” the fifth of this section’s seven movements, before one of those themes that characterise Di Nicola’s output (so easy, simplicity concealing art) emerges. It is surely not by chance that the final movement is called “Magic,” for it is.

The final section is one extended movement of over ten minutes in duration, simply entitled “Poetic Reflections” under the heading “The Poetry of Time.” Here, all 27 poems are recited alternately by Di Nicola and Sarasola, in Basque and Italian. It seems a fitting conclusion, given the relationship of Di Nicola’s poetry to the music heard this far.

Given the technical expertise on show here, it is unsurprising to learn that Di Nicola plays with groups as the Ensemble Intercontemporain. Equally unsurprising, given the quality of her poetry, is that she regularly creates in a number of forms, not just music. This is a lovely disc, superbly recorded, and characterized by a real appreciation of what constitutes beauty.