You may find this hard to believe, but there are some people who don't think much of Canadian music. They think it is all difficult, boring and ugly, among other things. Now I don't know anyone like that personally, and I don't imagine that you do either. But here is a CD to put such notions to rest, should we ever encounter anyone who entertains them.

It contains five Canadian compositions of fairly recent provenence played by Canada's most eminent harpist, Judy Loman. She is joined by other musicians as needed, and the results are uniformly delightful.

Srul Irving Glick's King David Sonata is a three-movement work for harp alone. It is warm, wise and uncomplicated in the manner of most of Glick's music. Loman plays it to perfection.

Wild Bird is one of R. Murray Schafer's most immediately engaging works. Typically for this composer, it's next to impossible to describe the mercurial originality -- and congeniality -- of the piece. Loman and violinist Jacques Israelievitch capture its spirit to perfection.

Glenn Buhr writes consistently approachable and interesting music. Danses Abstraites for flute and harp is no exception. It is a charming composition in three movements, not as arrestingly brilliant as the Schafer, but equally satisfying. At the risk of repeating myself, Loman and Nora Shulman play it beautifully.

Kelly-Marie Murphy's Illuminations for solo harp is also in three movements, sparkling, glowing movements entitled Star, Candle and Arc. It was inspired by the writings of Judy Loman's non-verbal autistic son, Joey Umbrico, who has written about the inability to communicate with the world around him. It is played with eloquence and love.

The collection concludes with Raymond Luedeke's four-movement The Lyre of Orpheus for harp and string quartet. It was premiered as part of the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival two years ago, and this recording only confirms the positive impression it made then.

It occurs to me that, since a string quartet with piano is called a piano quintet and a string quartet with clarinet is called a clarinet quintet, perhaps Luedeke's piece might be called a harp quintet. Whatever you call it, though, it's a lovely piece. It was inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke's Sonnets to Orpheus, and captures the feeling of the Orpheus legend nicely.

This collection may not be for everyone. I've been told that there are people who, in addition to not liking Canadian music, can't stand the harp. To those unfortunates I extend my sympathy, but I'm not sure what anyone can do for them.