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Re: GG: Harpsichord Playing
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
>