Re: GG: Harpsichord Playing

[Robert Kunath <kunath@hilltop.ic.edu>]

Pardon a digression from strictly Gould-related topics:

	It _was_ Beecham who said that the sound of a harpsichord 
made him think of 2 skeletons copulating on a tin roof, but I believe he 
also added "during a hailstorm."

	As for Christy's recommendation of Igor Kipnis, I'd like to add a
plug for the harpsichord playing of Christophe Rousset (mostly on
L'Oiseau-Lyre, I think).  His recording of Rameau's harpsichord works is
wonderful, and, having heard his performance, it's hard to imagine them on
a piano.  But if anybody could have done it, Gould could have (after all,
my favorite Gould recording is the Byrd/Gibbons album). 

Robert Kunath

On Wed, 24 Apr 1996, Christy Leung wrote:

> Hello all!
> 
> On 24 Apr 1996 PHILIP.GARON@hq.doe.gov wrote:
> 
> >      
> >      John Mansfield wrote:
> >      
> >      > There is a commercial recording of GG doing four of the Handel 
> >      > harpsichord suites.  I am not very fond of it, but then-I am
> >      > not very fond of the harpsichord.
> >      
> >      Wasn't it Sir Thomas Beecham who said that the sound of the 
> >      harpsichord reminded him of two skeletons copulating on a tin 
> >      roof?
> 
> Well, sounds like he didn't hear the harpsicord being played very well!  
> The harpsicord is a very beautiful, delicate instrument, but it seems to 
> be very difficult to play it well.  I've done quite a bit of listening to 
> harpsicord performances recently and the majority of them aren't very 
> good - slow, labourous, BORING!  But there was one artist that I really 
> enjoyed called Igor Kipnis.  His playing is full of fire and verve.  I 
> heard several of his recordings on LP and I don't know if they're out on 
> CD.  If you can get a hold of some of his recordings, try him out!  In 
> particular, his performance of the Sinfonia from the C minor partita is 
> excellent.
> 
> Christy
>