Victoria Looseleaf - Harpnosis

Victoria Looseleaf - Harpnosis

released on LP in 1984

The intent on this album of harp music is to help calm and relax its listeners which it does. It's one of those new-age type recordings that draws from classical music. It is alluring and beautiful. When I spotted a copy of this in the flea market and saw the names Satie and Cage on it, I knew I had to have it.

The liner notes give Looseleaf's bio at the time of the album's release:

Victoria Looseleaf was classically trained in both piano and harp. She earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of California, Berkeley, and then received a master's of fine arts in the performance and literature of the harp from Mills College. She has appeared in chamber music concerts and as a featured soloist in San Francisco, New York, Southern California and Europe. Currently residing in Laguna Beach, Ms. Looseleaf is perfecting the art of harpnosis, a technique she herself originated. Harpnosis, a de-stressing and relaxation practice, combines the most cogent aspects of psychology, analysis, meditation, sensory input and music.

Victoria Looseleaf recorded another album called Beyond Harpnosis (which I am on the lookout for). Then she quit releasing music and went on to do a cable public-access show called The Looseleaf Report that aired only in Los Angeles and New York. It totaled somewhere around 400 episodes and aired from 1987 to 2008. It had some big name celebrities and other interesting personalities as guests. So far, I found only one episode of her show, but it's a good one, an interview of Timothy Leary. Another interesting tidbit is that she wrote a biography of Leonardo Dicaprio whom she says she knows quite well personally.

She is currently writing a blog of the same name as her TV show where she covers the arts as well as contributing articles to The Los Angeles Times, Dance Magazine, among other publications.



Tracklisting:

Side One

1. Premiere Gymnopedie {3:02}
composed by Erik Satie

2. La Fille aux cheveux de lin {2:17}
composed by Claude Debussy

3. Deuxieme Gymnopedie {2:32}
composed by Erik Satie

4. Premiere Arabesque {4:14}
composed by Claude Debussy

5. Troisieme Gymnopedie {2:20}
composed by Erik Satie

6. Clair de lune {5:07}
composed by Claude Debussy

7. Air on a G string {2:48}
composed by Johann Sebastian Bach

Side Two

1. Canon in D {5:29}
composed by Johann Pachelbel

2. Andante {3:55}
composed by Johann Sebastian Bach

3. In a Landscape {11:58}
composed by John Cage

(1)