Re: unrecorded keyboard

[Jim Morrison <jim_morrison@sprynet.com>]

Bradley wrote
>
> The
> piano's bland tone (few harmonics), uniformity across registers, and equal
> temperament all make Bach on the piano sound (to me) like a
> transcription.

Very clear case in point is the prelude to the first fugue in C major of the
first book of the WTC.

Come on guys, let's admit it.  Who out there hasn't thought at some moment
felt  that this piece on piano makes Bach sound a bit (uncomfortable?) like
the unacknowledged father of minimalism?  Don't we sometimes ask ourselves
"what's the point?"

But on a harpsichord (esp one as fine as Gilbert's or Van Asperen's) this
prelude, which makes so much use of a pattern that descends from near the
top of the harpsichord's range to near to the bottom but not mind you near
the extremes of the larger concert grand, becomes a kind of flowing stream
that display the colors, timbres, and tuning of the instrument at hand.
Played on a harpsichord this piece makes exceptional sense as the first one
in the WTC.  On a harpsichord the work is revealed as much more than a warm
up finger exercise or a slight work that prefaces the real deal.  It becomes
a striking way to acquaint yourself (if your a player) and the listeners
with the instrument at hand; it's a wonderful way to begin a *harpsichord*
recital.


Jim