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Re: Piano vs harpsichord
At 04:34 PM 4/16/01 -0400, Anne Smith wrote:
Glenn Gould obviously preferred the piano to the harpsichord. There was a
discussion on this list last summer about the very few pieces that GG did
record using the harpsichord. I remember someone (Bradley perhaps) saying
that GG's harpsichord technique was not good. I have never heard this
recording so I can't make a judgement on this. One thing that I am sure of
is this --- if Glenn Gould had wanted to play the harpsichord well, he could
have done so. The fact that he didn't bother much with this instrument
should tell us something.
And to turn Gould's own chromatic fantasy quip back to him: the Wittmayer
is "a harpsichord for people who don't like harpsichord." Gould himself
wrote that he chose it because it's like a piano....
Some bits about this from last summer:
http://listserv.rutgers.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0007&L=f_minor&P=R3252
http://listserv.rutgers.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0007&L=f_minor&P=R2760
http://listserv.rutgers.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0007&L=f_minor&P=R5088
Anne, I agree with you that if GG had wanted to play the harpsichord well
he could have done so. He certainly had the articulative control and
finger independence for it. Not sure how happy he would have been learning
period fingerings, though...he might have had to *write them in* and
*practice* them.... :)
Bradley Lehman, Dayton VA
home: http://i.am/bpl or http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl
clavichord CD's: http://listen.to/bpl or http://www.mp3.com/bpl
trumpet and organ: http://www.mp3.com/hlduo
"Music must cause fire to flare up from the spirit - and not only sparks
from the clavier...." - Alfred Cortot