Harpsichord or piano?

[Bunny]

It means my dick is bigger than his. 

Or your ass.   

[The Mad Hatter]

without getting utra pedantic over this, it roughly goes something like clavichord > harpsichord > pianoforte > piano

Er, piano is an abbreviation of pianoforte. You're thinking of fortepiano.

[BachQ]

Perhaps if you imagined a hot babe on the harpsichord (rather than Trelane -- the spoiled, arrogant brat) your dislike for the harpsichord would disappear ........

[stingo]

I like both - and will purchase recordings played on either/both - for me it's the playing (emotional/passionate) that's the important thing.

[FideLeo]

I like both - and will purchase recordings played on either/both - for me it's the playing (emotional/passionate) that's the important thing.

CPE Bach's concerto for harpsichord and fortepiano does require to be played on both.   

[Bogey]

Perhaps if you imagined a hot babe on the harpsichord (rather than Trelane -- the spoiled, arrogant brat) your dislike for the harpsichord would disappear ........

Naw.  That's just Odo doing a bit of shape-shifting.   

[Bunny]

CPE Bach's concerto for harpsichord and fortepiano does require to be played on both.   

Here's one of my favorite recordings of that work (Carus-Verlag), featuring the Freiburg Barockorchester; Christine Schornsheim on fortepiano and Michael Behringer on Harpsichord.

[FideLeo]

Here's one of my favorite recordings of that work (Carus-Verlag), featuring the Freiburg Barockorchester; Christine Schornsheim on fortepiano and Michael Behringer on Harpsichord.

It is an incredbily witty work - the two solo instruments are so much fun
playing together in some kind of brother- or sisterhood.   Note this piece
will never work if you pitch in a modern Steinway.   It will have to play
a super-staccato-y, emasculated way or threatens to drown everybody
else out. 

[Maciek]

When I think of harpsichord, it is the extremely dry and precise sound that I love.  It is perfect for music with a lot of motion, because it brings a clarity you can't find on any other instrument.  It is the same reason I like chamber version of Appalachian Spring.

Here is my favorite piece for harpsichord.  It is Michael Nyman's The Convertibility of Lute Strings.  It is not for the faint of heart, but it is a lot of fun.  I recently stumbled upon this recording again, and I've played it about 5 times this past week.

http://download.yousendit.com/FC4805C01727E264

Thanks. He has used the same material in his Harpsichord Concerto later on, hasn't he?

And I've posted a helping of Polish contemporary harpsichord pieces here.

Maciek

[Catison]

Thanks. He has used the same material in his Harpsichord Concerto later on, hasn't he?

Yes, precisely.  The harpsichordist asked him for a solo piece and concerto, so he used the same material for both.  Some of the material was originally in another harpsichord piece called Tango for Tim.

And I've posted a helping of Polish contemporary harpsichord pieces here.

Maciek

Thanks, I'll check it out.

[anasazi]

I just really hate the sound of a harpsichord (usually).  Probably because I'm a pianist.    

And I've spent a number of years trying to play Bach on my instrument.  It sounds good to me (better if Glenn Gould plays it though). 

[Florestan]

Not all harpsichords sound the same. Find the proof here. And check also the early Cristofori pianoforte for a surprising sound.

[anasazi]

Not all harpsichords sound the same. Find the proof here. And check also the early Cristofori pianoforte for a surprising sound.

Of course, and by the same token, not all pianos sound the same.  Still, there is that difference.

[Harry Collier]

Not too difficult to comprehend why, when the pianoforte came along, all harpsichords were all donated en masse to museums. Thomas Beecham's comparison with "skeletons copulating on a tin roof" is not too far off the mark.

[Florestan]

Thomas Beecham's comparison with "skeletons copulating on a tin roof" is not too far off the mark.

Only in the sense that the harpsichord has indeed a sensual sound.

[Maciek]

And the keys are probably often covered in bone of some sort...

[FideLeo]

Not too difficult to comprehend why, when the pianoforte came along, all harpsichords were all donated en masse to museums. Thomas Beecham's comparison with "skeletons copulating on a tin roof" is not too far off the mark.

What does Beecham know about harpsichords!?   

[Harry]

Not too difficult to comprehend why, when the pianoforte came along, all harpsichords were all donated en masse to museums. Thomas Beecham's comparison with "skeletons copulating on a tin roof" is not too far off the mark.

Its a silly remark, of a conductor who knew nothing about Harpsichords.

[FideLeo]

Its a silly remark, of a conductor who knew nothing about Harpsichords.

Harpsichords know nothing about Beecham either. 
BTW, Beethoven was still playing harpsichords when
he was very young.  So how long did it take for the
fortepianos to come along?  Forty years?  Some
people need to get historically informed. 

[Bogey]

Not too difficult to comprehend why, when the pianoforte came along, all harpsichords were all donated en masse to museums. Thomas Beecham's comparison with "skeletons copulating on a tin roof" is not too far off the mark.

Ah, but there is a bit more that can accompany this quote (in bold and from the web):

Two skeletons copulating on a tin roof.
- Sir Thomas Beecham [In fairness, we must remember that Beecham died in 1961, before a generation of excellent players, restorers, makers and tuners had emerged to sound the instrument's depths and rediscover its possibilities. ]

There are also these quotes (from the web):

Several otherwise discerning musicians have harboured hostile feelings [The composer Ralph Vaughan Williams compared the sound of the harpsichord to 'the ticking of a sewing machine' and Percy Scholes quoted 'a performance on a bird-cage with a toasting-fork' from an unnamed wit. ] towards the harpsichord since its re-introduction after a fallow period in the 19th Century. However, its place at the centre of nearly all Baroque ensembles, and its enormously rich solo literature, have ensured its healthy survival for the foreseeable future.

Personally, as stated earlier, I am not a huge solo fan, however, I cannot imagine most of Hogwoods recordings without one somewhere in the mix.