General Harpsichord and Clavichord Thread

Started by Geo Dude, January 15, 2012, 10:22:56 AM

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bioluminescentsquid

Quote from: milk on October 10, 2019, 11:23:42 PM

What's a nice Lutheran country doing with a crazy harpsichord style like this?

Shhh.. Don't tell him what those guys do in church on the organ :)

Mandryka

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

Quote from: milk on October 10, 2019, 03:28:55 PM



I agree, this is a very attractive recording of enjoyable music, thanks for pointing it out.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

bioluminescentsquid

#423
Quote from: Mandryka on October 11, 2019, 11:51:57 PM
Shhh.. Don't tell him what those guys do in church on the with their organ :)

Reminds me of this amusing article by David Yearsley about whatever went down between Bach and the "frembde Jungfer" he invited up onto the organ loft in Arnstadt.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/12/01/the-case-against-bach/

Featuring a delightful little poem by Picander, "Das Orgel-Werck der Liebe":

QuoteThe bed is your organ loft, where you can make music.
Love will give you the beat of the proper tempo.
This much I can see in advance,
That the entire organ sounds forth in chamber pitch.
In the meantime you will play a happy little piece,
That you will one day laugh about,
When at its proper time, much-beloved couple,
A young little cantor cries next to your organ.

Ok, back to harpsichords and clavichords, shall we! :)

milk

#424

I think this was recorded in 1997 if I'm reading the internets correctly. This is wild and wonderful recording. David Lynch should use it on his next project. Sometimes it sounds like these guys were just noodling. But that's kind of a good thing.
Juicy/tangy sounding instruments all around:
ORGAN: Dionigi Romani, 1581, Church of San Niccolò Oltrarno, Florence.
CHROMATIC HARPSICHORD: Den­zil Wraight, 1987.
HARPSICHORD with extra chromatic keys: Denzil Wraight, 1980.




Mandryka

Quote from: milk on October 28, 2019, 01:04:49 AM

I think this was recorded in 1997 if I'm reading the internets correctly. This is wild and wonderful recording. David Lynch should use it on his next project. Sometimes it sounds like these guys were just noodling. But that's kind of a good thing.
Juicy/tangy sounding instruments all around:
ORGAN: Dionigi Romani, 1581, Church of San Niccolò Oltrarno, Florence.
CHROMATIC HARPSICHORD: Den­zil Wraight, 1987.
HARPSICHORD with extra chromatic keys: Denzil Wraight, 1980.

It's worth exploring everything that Christopher Stembridge has recorded.

Quote from: milk on October 28, 2019, 01:04:49 AM

Sometimes it sounds like these guys were just noodling. But that's kind of a good thing.


This makes me think of John Cage writing about Satie and Beethoven

QuoteWith Beethoven the parts of a composition were defined by means of harmony. With Satie [...] they were defined by means of time-lengths. The question of structure is so basic, and it is so important to be in agreement about it, that we must now ask: Was Beethoven right or [...] Satie? I answer immediately and unequivocally, Beethoven was in error, and his influence, which has been extensive as it is lamentable, has been deadening to the art of music.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

milk

Quote from: Mandryka on October 28, 2019, 02:27:47 AM
It's worth exploring everything that Christopher Stembridge has recorded.

This makes me think of John Cage writing about Satie and Beethoven

Quote from: Mandryka on October 28, 2019, 02:27:47 AM
With Beethoven the parts of a composition were defined by means of harmony. With Satie [...] they were defined by means of time-lengths. The question of structure is so basic, and it is so important to be in agreement about it, that we must now ask: Was Beethoven right or [...] Satie? I answer immediately and unequivocally, Beethoven was in error, and his influence, which has been extensive as it is lamentable, has been deadening to the art of music.

You make me feel like I sort of made sense! :o This early Italian music really doesn't go anywhere (which I guess is Cage-ian and Satie-eque).   

Mandryka



The recording has music played on organ and harpsichord . The harpsichord's "after"  Johann Mayer, 1619, and it's very colourful, apparently there are 13 different timbres possible. Márton Borsányi is well able to play the music on it. The organ is modern, based on an early c19 instrument, and not unattractive, the booklet suggests that it's similar to  c18 organs, in particular "Empfindsamkeit organs" (a term I've never heard before, presumably it means the sort of organ that CPE Bach would have known) -- and then leaps to the conclusion that " repertoire from Frobergerto Mendelssohn can be authentically performed on this instrument." I doubt it, but it's not offensive and it is very characterful.

Truth is I'm enjoying this CD a lot, though that's just my mood probably. The harpsichord is special.

Orgel/organ
Jacob Deutschmann, 1829
unequal temperament, 4 good thirds, similar to Werckmeister III

Cembalo/harpsichord
nach / after Johann Mayer, 1619
Salzburg Museum
Stimmung / temperament: 1/6 Komma mitteltönige Stimmung (jeweils der Tonart angepasst) /
comma meantone (modified for each key)
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen


Mandryka

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Que


Mandryka



I think this is rather good, I'm listening to some Sweelinck. Who was Dahler? He sounds modern, informed. And it sounds like a real harpsichord.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Jo498

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B6rg_Ewald_D%C3%A4hler

Dähler accompanied Ernst Haefliger on his late Schubert lieder recordings (I think these are my only recordings with him) and made a bunch of more solo and chamber recordings, mostly on Swiss or otherwise small labels, and I think more fortepiano than harpsichord.
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

premont

Quote from: Mandryka on March 17, 2020, 12:08:07 PM


I think this is rather good, I'm listening to some Sweelinck. Who was Dahler? He sounds modern, informed. And it sounds like a real harpsichord.

He lived 1933 - 2018 and studied at Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, whose principal harpsichord teacher was Eduard Müller, who also taught Gustav Leonhardt.

I have never considered his recordings that much. Like so much else the Claves LP's were in practice unavailable in my country. I own his Opfer on CD (decent but not unique), and I see that Presto offers the Goldbergs and Inventions as download. As well as the one you posted. One more time you have wetted my tongue.  :)
γνῶθι σεαυτόν

bioluminescentsquid

#434
Seems like as a forum we have collectively forgotten non-Bach harpsichord music!  :D


https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_k5KyXYVx5ksPYmIDPJmvPFV_afB5UG7FM
One that I've come across today - very good first impressions. Harpsichord sounds wiry and muscular, as a proper Italian one should. Bold, swashbuckling playing.

Mandryka

#435
There's a Frescobaldi harpsichord recording which I have a lot of difficulty enjoying, despite the fact that I normally appreciate the musician in his other recordings of Frescobaldi. But this one seems a bit too linear, to lack a bit of the magic fire. This is the recording



This, on the other hand, is one of my most favourite things in the whole world and is, I think, an ideal recording for someone who just wants a single Frescobaldi harpsichord CD

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

bioluminescentsquid

Quote from: Mandryka on October 23, 2020, 12:43:26 AM
There's a Frescobaldi harpsichord recording which I have a lot of difficulty enjoying, despite the fact that I normally appreciate the musician in his other recordings of Frescobaldi. But this one seems a bit too linear, to lack a bit of the magic fire. This is the recording



This, on the other hand, is one of my most favourite things in the whole world and is, I think, an ideal recording for someone who just wants a single Frescobaldi harpsichord CD



Exactly the opposite for me - I like the Alpha recording more, haven't fallen in love with the latter. Late Leonhardt in general, when he started to free up his style a little more. The Capriccio sopra la Bassa Fiamenga sounds like there's someone singing along.
But now I have to listen to both again - I don't think there's any overlap between music between them.

Mandryka

Quote from: bioluminescentsquid on October 23, 2020, 12:30:02 PM
Exactly the opposite for me - I like the Alpha recording more, haven't fallen in love with the latter. Late Leonhardt in general, when he started to free up his style a little more. The Capriccio sopra la Bassa Fiamenga sounds like there's someone singing along.
But now I have to listen to both again - I don't think there's any overlap between music between them.

I like the Louis Couperin on the Alpha very much, but not the Frescobaldi.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen


Mandryka

#439
Quote from: (: premont :) on October 24, 2020, 12:03:26 PM
Leonhardt made several more Frescobaldi recordings. Has anyone got an opinion of these:

1

2

3

4



4: Noble playing, perfect, but not as perfect as Vartolo in the same music . (I think you can have degrees of perfection.)

3: Real emotional depth, darkness sometimes, in this one. A great favourite of mine, I play it often.

2: Don't know this so well, just playing it now and I was struck by the harpsichord, a review on Amazon says it's a Zell.

1: Can't remember!
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen