Aversion to Harpsichord?

[karlhenning]

The short answer to your question is, No. Bach hasn't been destroyed by Hewitt, Perahia, Richter, Gould, Schiff, Pogorelich, Kempff, etc, nor has his music been destroyed by me listening to it played on a piano. 

Now, it can be told.

[Moldyoldie]

"...like skeletons copulating on a tin roof in the rain."

I believe that's attributed to Sir Thomas Beecham and I couldn't put it any better myself! I can abide harpsichord continuo accompaniment, but hardly ever front & center.

[Mark G. Simon]

I was just listening to one of my favorites from my old LPs, a performance of Pachelbel's Hexachordum Apollinis performed by Marga Scheurich on a Neupert harpsichord with a particularly lovely sound. The sound she got on one of the pieces in this collection was radiant:

Hopefully there will be an mp3 attached with this post, otherwise you'll just have to take my word.

[Don]

I was just listening to one of my favorites from my old LPs, a performance of Pachelbel's Hexachordum Apollinis performed by Marga Scheurich on a Neupert harpsichord with a particularly lovely sound. The sound she got on one of the pieces in this collection was radiant:

Hopefully there will be an mp3 attached with this post, otherwise you'll just have to take my word.

Yes, a very attractive sounding harpsichord - would have liked to hear more than 15 seconds though.  Am I complaining?  Nope, just whining.

[karlhenning]

Thanks for that, Mark; you don't often think of a harpsichord as singing.

[Mark G. Simon]

Yes, a very attractive sounding harpsichord - would have liked to hear more than 15 seconds though.  Am I complaining?  Nope, just whining.

The first clip I made was 27 seconds long, and was already to large to fit in the post. Posts have to be smaller than 500 KB. The 15 second clip you hear here is 300 KB.

[M forever]

"...like skeletons copulating on a tin roof in the rain."

I believe that's attributed to Sir Thomas Beecham and I couldn't put it any better myself! I can abide harpsichord continuo accompaniment, but hardly ever front & center.

Have you ever heard a really good harpsichord live? Because, again,

Most people don't actually know how good a harpsichord can sound. It is particularly hard to record and an instrument ifor which the acoustical environment it is played in is very critical. Plus most harpsichords out there are not so good instruments. A really well made and well played harpsichord in the right acoustical environment can sound amazing, it fills the air with complex sounds and is very colorful. The bass end of a good harpsichord also has a "funky" kick to the attack of the notes. Which is also great when you play together with one as basso continuo because it outlines the bass line crisply which the other player(s) can then color with their string or wind instruments. A particularly effective basso continuo group for stuff like the Bach passions is harpsichord, bassoon (instead of cello), bass. Very colorful and darkly sonorous, with lots of possible nuances of timbres.

[jochanaan]

I was just listening to one of my favorites from my old LPs, a performance of Pachelbel's Hexachordum Apollinis performed by Marga Scheurich on a Neupert harpsichord with a particularly lovely sound. The sound she got on one of the pieces in this collection was radiant:

Hopefully there will be an mp3 attached with this post, otherwise you'll just have to take my word.

That is very lovely, Mark.  Thanks!

[Mark G. Simon]

Harpsichord is like an organ. It has several sets of strings, and one can set the registration like an organ, and the terms 4 foot, 8 foot and 16 foot are used to describe them. 4 foot plays an octave higher than 8 foot and 16 foot plays an octave lower than 8 foot. There are also different types of plectrum. I believe the quality of sound on the Pachelbel clip I played was due to the use of a "buff stop", where the plectrum are covered in leather.

The clip from Scarlatti's sonata in G major K.412 given here uses a "lute stop" which gives the strings a sharply plucked sound, but only in the left hand. The presence of two keyboards allows two stops to be played at the same time. The harpsichordist is Luciano Sgrizzi.

[jochanaan]

...The clip from Scarlatti's sonata in G major K.412 given here uses a "lute stop" which gives the strings a sharply plucked sound, but only in the left hand...

The "lute stop" is produced by sliding a row of felt pieces against the strings' near ends, muting the sound.

I'm sure I've told how in college I helped build a harpsichord, then kept it in tune as long as I was there.  It had--has, if it's still there, and I expect it is--two 8' sets of strings and one 4', and a big, bright, room-filling sound.

[Mark G. Simon]

BTW, I meant to say that the lute stop is only used in the left hand on this clip, not that the lute stop only works in the left hand.

[jochanaan]

In the above-mentioned harpsichord I helped build, you could use the lute stop on either end of the single keyboard.  I've heard one or two other recordings, including the Richter/Munich Bach Orchestra Brandenburg 5, that use a lute stop on the harpsichord's left hand.  It's a nice special effect.

[Mark G. Simon]

So It's possible that Sgrizzi played that excerpt on a single keyboard.

[jochanaan]

So It's possible that Sgrizzi played that excerpt on a single keyboard.

It is, even if he used a multi-manual harpsichord.  Of course, I would suspect he had access to some of the best instruments...

[Rod Corkin]

Handel's Eight Grand suites for harpsichords are great entertainment. Sophie Yates does a very good job with them on the whole. Check out a few samples...
http://classicalmusicmayhem.freeforums.org/handel-eight-grand-suites-for-harpsichord-1720-t767.html

[marvinbrown]

Handel's Eight Grand suites for harpsichords are great entertainment. Sophie Yates does a very good job with them on the whole. Check out a few samples...
http://classicalmusicmayhem.freeforums.org/handel-eight-grand-suites-for-harpsichord-1720-t767.html

  yes I wouldn't want to hear Handel on the piano either!  thanks for the link Rod  .

[Rod Corkin]

  yes I wouldn't want to hear Handel on the piano either!  thanks for the link Rod  .

Handel's is real harpsichord music, it would be a nonsense to play these suites on a piano, though a handful of such recordings exist. Some of them by persons I thought would have known better. But there is much more harpsichord music from other composers, such as D Scarlatti, whereby the piano is simply no competition.

[Don]

Handel's Eight Grand suites for harpsichords are great entertainment. Sophie Yates does a very good job with them on the whole. Check out a few samples...
http://classicalmusicmayhem.freeforums.org/handel-eight-grand-suites-for-harpsichord-1720-t767.html

You keep promoting the Yates recordings; I keep saying that I don't find her performances among the best.

[Don]

Handel's is real harpsichord music, it would be a nonsense to play these suites on a piano, though a handful of such recordings exist.

I think your opinion here is nonsense.  Richter blows your esteemed Yates out of the water.

[Rod Corkin]

I think your opinion here is nonsense.  Richter blows your esteemed Yates out of the water.

Prove it at my site! The important thing is that there is no doubt this is real harpsichord music and as such the use of the piano definitely a no-no.