Word: harpsichords
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Each Saturday and Sunday for the past three months, a little procession has arrived punctually at 6:30 p.m. at RCA Victor's midtown Manhattan recording studios. The routine never varies. The youngest, Mlle. Denise Restout, goes straight to the harpsichord, yanks open her tool kit, and starts tuning. The huskiest, Mlle. Elsa Schunicke, carries the pillows and the hamper, loaded with sandwiches, a vacuum jug of coffee, and a supply of specially blended horehound drops. Then, her hands folded before her, and her craggy features blissfully composed, Mme. Wanda Landowska herself floats in like a tiny wraith, nods...
...hear would come off the wax. In her weekly sessions, she had worked 42 hours, making retake after retake, to record 45 minutes of music. At 70 (her birthday is actually July 5), the somewhat mystic, sometimes earthy little Polish-born woman is the acknowledged high priestess of the harpsichord, the sweet-sounding, twangy-bangy instrument she rescued from oblivion 50 years ago. She did not need much preparation before sitting down to record...
Alexander Schneider and Ralph Kirkpatrick had another homecoming in Sanders Theater Wednesday night, where they played four sonatas for violin and harpsichord by Bach and Mozart. Though the concert was sponsored by the Pierian Sodality, it was appropriate that Mrs. Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge took her customary seat in the front row. Under her auspices, the duet made its debut in Sanders seven years ago, and in later concerts which she supported they achieved their unsurpassed fame...
...only question which can be legitimately raised is one of balance. Granted, Sanders Theater is too large for harpsichord tones to compete satisfactorily with the violin. Nevertheless, while being true to the music by using the harpsichord rather than the piano which dominated the nineteenth century, they have not weakened the violin proportionately. Schneider uses a straight bow with taut hairs rather than the arched, loose-haired bow to which Bach was accustomed. Even with this slight exception, however, it is undoubtedly true that the two give the most precise demonstration to be found anywhere of the complete understanding which...
Mozart's intention is somewhat less clear. The composer may have been writing for an early piano, though it was used interchangeably with the harpsichord in his time. In any case, he did occasionally make excessive demands on a harpsichord, and these were noticeable in the thumping of the coupled bass at times in the C Major Sonata. But when music and instruments did fit, Schneider and Kirkpatrick produced some of the most delightful musical sounds I can remember...