rdp@teddy.UUCP (08/16/85)
Note: This message is in response to mail I received from Eugene Fiume in reference to remarks I made about Couperin, et al. Mail has failed me, so I post, hoping he's out there, and, besides, somebody else might be interested in this. His letter: > > I share your harpsichord/Couperin lunacy. A question for you: > like my instrument, the classical guitar, I find that harpsichord albums > tend to be very poorly recorded. Is there some technical reason for this, > or am I just looking at the wrong recordings? CD technology has done > wonders for guitar, because so much of the individual character of an > instrument is covered up in record noise, etc. Is the same true of > harpsichord recordings? > > Cheers > Eugene Fiume And I reply: I find that the problems behind most recordings of harpsichord music fall into one or more of the following categories: 1. Bad performances on bad or otherwise inapropriate instruments. This includes the likes of Wanda Landowska on the dreaded Pleyel, Ruzikova (sp?), Valenti, etc. and the whole genre of mid-European harpsichordists nutured in the Landowska tradition (this is to some equal to heresy, of course). 2. Purely amatuerish recording techniques. This includes miking far to close (the harpsichord soundboard seems to have a far more locallized radiation pattern that is note dependent than a piano, possibly because of its far thinner and mor flexible soundboard and a greater participtaion on the part of the whole case.), overly reverberent environments, etc. etc. 3. Bad pressings. Of the above, only #3 is helped by CD's. I have quite a large collection of Baroque keyboard music at home, quite a few of which were done on instruments that I have played or have heard. As far as the Couperin Pieces de Clavecin are concerned, by far the best performance and recording is the series released by Kenneth Gilbert on Harmonia Mundi. The performances are wonderful, unassuming, lyrical, charming, etc., and the instruments used include those by Frank Hubbard, and I cannot fault the recordings at all. They are extremely faithful to the instrument (of which I have a copy in my house), and they are very quiet. THese performances were available on MHS a few years ago but suffered from off-centered pressing. It is worth the search for the HM's. Recordings of Bach harpsichord pieces are somewhat harder to find, strangely enough. Most of what is available is played by Gustav Leonhardt and the like. I find that the instruments they chose to be somewhat drier and less full than the French tradition (Leonhardt uses a Dulken (Flemish) copy, I think) There is a very good recording of the 6 harpsichord suites available from the Smithsonian Institute, played by (I think, but could be wrong) Fenner Douglas. I have yet to find a satisfying Scarlatti set, but local artist (Mark Kroll, etc.) have made excellent recordings of selected pieces on labels such as Titanic, AFKA, and so forth. As a complete aside, the most fun-packed harpsichord record I have is one recorded by Donald Angle on AFKA, named "New Angle on Harpsichord". It has an absolutely wonderful performance of Earl Flatt's (of Flatt and Scrugg fame) "Foggy Mountain Breakdown". As a Harpsichord purist, I can't recommend it enough. Anyone interested in Baroque organ music? Regards Dick Pierce
ark@alice.UUCP (Andrew Koenig) (08/20/85)
> Recordings of Bach harpsichord pieces are somewhat harder to find, strangely > enough. Most of what is available is played by Gustav Leonhardt and the like. > I find that the instruments they chose to be somewhat drier and less full > than the French tradition (Leonhardt uses a Dulken (Flemish) copy, I think) > There is a very good recording of the 6 harpsichord suites available from > the Smithsonian Institute, played by (I think, but could be wrong) Fenner > Douglas. The Smithsonian set is performed by James Weaver; and I agree it's a very good recording. You may also enjoy the recently-issued collections from Archiv. I think they cover just about all of JSB's harpsichord music. There are two boxes, ten records in each. I've seen them for sale at Tower Records at $34.40 a box. The recordings are from various times in the past ten years, and include the WTC played by Kenneth Gilbert and a lot of other stuff played, if I remember right, by Gilbert, Trevor Pinnock, and Huguette Dreyfus. Some of these are now also available on CD, coupled with Ton Koopman's excellent rendition of assorted organ works on a gutsy baroque organ. Huguette Dreyfus has also done a good recording of the Partitas on three CDs on the Denon label.
sutter@osu-eddie.UUCP (Bob Sutterfield) (08/21/85)
>[ A bunch of very scholarly talk about harpsichords and recording them ] ... > As a complete aside, the most fun-packed harpsichord record I have is > one recorded by Donald Angle on AFKA, named "New Angle on Harpsichord". It > has an absolutely wonderful performance of Earl Flatt's (of Flatt and Scrugg > fame) "Foggy Mountain Breakdown". As a Harpsichord purist, I can't > recommend it enough. > > Anyone interested in Baroque organ music? > > Regards > > Dick Pierce *** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR FIFTH STRING *** Lordy, cain't y'all keep yore pickers strate? HIS name is Earl Scruggs (note the "s"). For many years, HE picked the world's greatest Bluegrass banjo with Lester Flatt on guitar and vocals. Their band (now legendary) was known as "Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys." Their sponsor for much of that time on radio WSM, Nashville was Martha White Mills. @i(Foggy Mountain Breakdown) was HIS first (I think) commercially-recorded composition, and the band's trademark song. HE now plays more progressive stuff with his sons, collectively known as the Earl Scruggs Revue. As a banjo purist, I can't recommend HIM enough :-) -- Human: Bob Sutterfield Facilities Management Division The Ohio State University Instruction & Research Computer Center Workplace: Ohio Cooperative Extension Service, Computer Management Group OCES VAX System Manager/Programmer (VMS) Mail: ...cbosgd!osu-eddie!sutter.UUCP or: sutter@ohio-state.CSNET MaBell: (614) 422 - 9034
rdp@teddy.UUCP (08/28/85)
In article <546@osu-eddie.UUCP> sutter@osu-eddie.UUCP (Bob Sutterfield) writes: >... >> As a complete aside, the most fun-packed harpsichord record I have is >> one recorded by Donald Angle on AFKA, named "New Angle on Harpsichord". It >> has an absolutely wonderful performance of Earl Flatt's (of Flatt and Scrugg >> fame) "Foggy Mountain Breakdown". As a Harpsichord purist, I can't >> recommend it enough. >> >> Dick Pierce > >Lordy, cain't y'all keep yore pickers strate? > >HIS name is Earl Scruggs (note the "s"). For many years, HE picked the >As a banjo purist, I can't recommend HIM enough :-) >-- As I stand completely corrected as to the originator of the piece mentioned, and, having lived in the hills of West-By-God-Virginia for a forsaken 7 years, I respectfully twiddle my kneecaps at the gentlemen providing me with the errors of my weighs. Dick Pierce