Harpsichords! Favorite Players, Recordings, Styles . . .

[mikeweil]

There a plenty of great sounding historic harpsichords or copies in the USA - when you have a chance go hear them played. There is a nice group of players in New York.

https://www.rpechefsky.com

 

[mikeweil]

Brandywine Baroque organizes concerts and recordings with historic instruments from the Flint Collection, videos give a good impression in perfect sound.

https://www.brandywinebaroque.org

https://www.plectra.org

[Д.Д.]

That Sempe Scarlatti album is scary! Such precision and speed.   

I love this Francois Couperin recording by Violaine Cochard:

 

[mikeweil]

3 minutes ago, Д.Д. said:

That Sempe Scarlatti album is scary! Such precision and speed.   

 

Perfect imitation of Spanish guitar arpeggios on harpsichord!

Edited February 2, 2024 by mikeweil

[Д.Д.]

Goldberg Variations by Blandine Rannou:

 

[mikeweil]

5 minutes ago, Д.Д. said:

Goldberg Variations by Blandine Rannou:

Do you know what harpsichord she plays on this CD?

And what is the playing time?

[Д.Д.]

Oh man, let me check...

It's 85 minutes, the instrument is a 1988 Anthony Sidey, copy of the Ruckers-Hemsch 

Blandine Verlet playing Francois Couperin is excellent as well. A very deep sounding instrument too.

  

Edited February 2, 2024 by Д.Д.

[mikeweil]

Listening to the samples reminds me  of the reasons why I skipped this when it was released - I don't like her agogics. In Bach's music it is all there, you don't have to manipulate tone durations too much, which she does. Just let it flow. That's what his son Carl Philip Emanuel told us.

For the Goldbergs I would recommend someone using a German type harpsichord, like Luca Guglielmi, Andreas Staier, Ottavio Dantone. 

[Д.Д.]

I know what you mean (well, after I checked what agogics is). The flow is sometimes disjointed. Also, the tempo choices are somewhat eccentric. I still find it a very satisfying listen. I don't like Staier that much (have not heard his Goldbergs though), seemed a bit bland to me. Haven't listened to him for ages.

I love Dantone's expansive Handel: 

Will check his Bach out.

Gugliemi I don't know. I thought he was a piano player.  

Edited February 3, 2024 by Д.Д.

[mikeweil]

14 minutes ago, Д.Д. said:

Gugliemi I don't know. I thought he was a piano player.  

https://lucaguglielmi.com

[sgcim]

 Sylvia Marlowe specialized in 20th Cent. Harpsichord music, and knocked me out with a recording of a piece by Henri Sauguet.

[soulpope]

6 hours ago, Д.Д. said:

Blandine Verlet playing Francois Couperin is excellent as well. A very deep sounding instrument too.

Late Blandine Verlet recording from 2011 .... very good indeed ....

[soulpope]

Recorded January 2006 .... speaking of favourite Louis Couperin releases .... 

[Niko]

18 hours ago, mikeweil said:

... Saloons, private apartments, much smaller rooms with little reverb, and intimate acoustics are appropriate. Many of Gustav Leonhardt's best recordings were made at his house in Amsterdam. 

Overtones are very important, for the timbre. Church reverb absorbs these. 

As I said, a very complex subject.

Reading this sentence got me to look up the house, learn that it's now a museum (about itself, not about Leonhardt) and visit it this afternoon... A nice house to say the least

Edited February 3, 2024 by Niko

[Д.Д.]

8 hours ago, soulpope said:

Recorded January 2006 .... speaking of favourite Louis Couperin releases .... 

Yeah, van Asperen recorded four CDs of Louis Couperin music for Aeolus. I have Vol. 1, it's excellent (thank to mikeweil's recommendation). All four can be obtained as a bundle direct from the label: https://www.aeolus-music.com/Alle-Tontraeger/Bundles/AE80013-Louis-Couperin-Complete-works-for-harpsichord  

[mikeweil]

On 2/4/2024 at 12:52 AM, Д.Д. said:

Yeah, van Asperen recorded four CDs of Louis Couperin music for Aeolus. I have Vol. 1, it's excellent (thank to mikeweil's recommendation). All four can be obtained as a bundle direct from the label: https://www.aeolus-music.com/Alle-Tontraeger/Bundles/AE80013-Louis-Couperin-Complete-works-for-harpsichord  

Van Asperen's recordings of Louis Couperin and Johann Jakob Froberger on Aeolus are indeed the best one can buy right now of the music of these masters. Fantastic historic harpsichords, excellent playing and comments and perfect sound.

Edited February 5, 2024 by mikeweil

[soulpope]

8 hours ago, Д.Д. said:

Yeah, van Asperen recorded four CDs of Louis Couperin music for Aeolus. I have Vol. 1, it's excellent (thank to mikeweil's recommendation). All four can be obtained as a bundle direct from the label: https://www.aeolus-music.com/Alle-Tontraeger/Bundles/AE80013-Louis-Couperin-Complete-works-for-harpsichord  

Have all four releases, but do listen recurringly to Vol. 1 and 2 ....

[soulpope]

To make an exception to the rule 😇😎 ....

[mikeweil]

Here's another video appetizer, made on the occasion of the presentation of a newly acquired copy of a Zell harpsichord for the Frankfurt music academy. All the players are or have been students there, it's all German music mostly before Bach, a very nice overview. One of the players, Alexander von Heissen (from 29:50), recently won a Bach competition and is one of the rising stars on the scene, but my favorite is Ortrun Sommerweiß, who plays a Suite attributed to Jan Adam Reincken with amazing natural self- confidence (starting at 15:00) - I look forward to hear her playing live again in two months. The comments are all in German, with plenty insights from the builder of the instrument, but the music alone makes it worthwhile and gives testimony to the high level we have at this school.

 

Edited March 23, 2024 by mikeweil

[T.D.]

On 1/10/2024 at 8:07 PM, mikeweil said:

My experienc with classical forums is that they are dominated by music lovers that prefer performances on modern piano and know little about harpsichord performance or are even opposed to it.

Okay, I will try to do my best and explain some about the history of the instrument and the approaches to intrerpreting the music. It's a complex but intriguing subject.

My experience is the opposite. On the classical forum I visit, there is significantly more detailed discussion of (esp.) HIP harpsichord performances than piano equivalents.

In fact, I've found the volume and diversity of commendable (and prolific) modern harpsichord artists so intimidating that I haven't investigated in depth.

Edited March 22, 2024 by T.D.

[mikeweil]

21 hours ago, T.D. said:

My experience is the opposite. On the classical forum I visit, there is significantly more detailed discussion of (esp.) HIP harpsichord performances than piano equivalents.

My experience is based on German language forums, perhaps the general attitude is different in English language forums. Would you post links to these?

21 hours ago, T.D. said:

In fact, I've found the volume and diversity of commendable (and prolific) modern harpsichord artists so intimidating that I haven't investigated in depth.

Yes, it is a wide and diverse area of music, I can relate to that. Without my decades of listening and learning I would be lost.

Edited March 23, 2024 by mikeweil

[T.D.]

54 minutes ago, mikeweil said:

My experience is based on German language forums, perhaps the general attitude is different in English language forums. Would you post links to these?

Yes, it is a wide and diverse area of music, I can relate to that. Without my decades of listening and learning I would be lost.

The classical forum I visit (on and off) is Good Music Guide, https://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php

There's a group of (seemingly mostly) European posters who are harpsichord enthusiasts, and harpsichord interpretations generally get more focus than piano. They just alerted me to Suzuki's recent release of Die Kunst der Fuge on BIS, which I auditioned and am going to buy. There are plenty of harpsichord threads with dozens of pages of posts.