Re: unrecorded keyboard

[Juozas Rimas <JuozasRimas@TAKAS.LT>]

> Oh, here's a PS to this rather lenghty email.  It seems to me that composers
> work with the instruments they grew up with and the ones they are familiar
> with, and that they don't spend a whole lot of time wishing they had a
> different instrument and instead work with the one at hand and in mind.

He most likely didn't worry but what I especially like about most of his music
that it appeared to be supra-instrumental to the extent that we do adore certain
transcriptions of the pieces on the piano.

We of course shouldn't waste time thinking on what Bach could have been
thinking... but I dare to presume that he didn't complain about his violin
capable of producing sounds having musical dinamism. It's an undoubtful FEATURE
of an instrument. If it weren't so, we should be quite happy with a bit improved
MIDI recordings of Bach.

The harpsichord lets us explore the authentic atmosphere and core of Bach's
clavier works and piano ADDS more. With piano's new capabilities we can use the
musical text as a precious material to open a new world of interpretation of the
music. I'm happy to have the chance to savour both harpsichord and piano
renditions but - maybe it's my personal quirk - I like setting priorities for
myself. It's fun to hear how the 11th sinfonia sounds on Jaccottet's
harpsichord but I love Gould's dinamically-colored transcription so much I say
to myself that piano has more pros than the harpsichord and less cons than the
harpsichord. So I set my priority for the former instrument for that piece.
Maybe the 1st WTC prelude really sounds better on the harpsichord? Jim, name me
the performer of the piece you liked most - you have more experience in
harpsichord renditions than I and you can save me a lot of time. I wouldn't mind
discovering that the prelude does sound better on the harpsichord (nevertheless,
I don't agree that the piece sounds so minimalist on the piano - it's a divine
musical moment and it's good they send it in one of the Voyagers out to the
space - Maybe it was Gould's performance, anyone knows???)

Juozas Rimas Jr
http://mp3.com/JuozasRimas - Baroque and more...