Hello Tilman (and all),

I attended several of the Westfield Center's "Cembalophilia" events at 
the recent Berkeley Festival (specifically the Alan Curtis panel 
discussion, the 7 honorary performances and the concerts by Carole 
Cerasi & Edward Parmentier).My perspective is primarily as a long-term 
devoted listener, although I have built 3 harpsichord kits andnow 
struggle at becoming a self-taught player (definitely a daunting 
proposition).

Somehow, I have not heard of the Westfield Center before but find it a 
very worthy endeavor.I have attended several past Berkeley (& one 
Boston) festivals and have never experienced this enhanced degree of 
attention to solo harpsichord music.In particular, it was very 
exhilarating to have this number of first-rate performers together in 
one place!

That said, I have a few caveats.The choice of venue was rather 
unfortunate, as the high level of street noise intruded incessantly on 
the otherwise excellent performances.Could the Berkeley City Club have 
provided a more secluded room?If not, I would vote for the venue to be 
changed in the future (I have not found noise to be a problem at most 
any other Festival performances).Also,the instrument usage was rather 
uneven;the superb Derek Adlam muselar was only heard once & the fine 
Italian instrument not at all.Finally, there was almost no discussion of 
these superb instruments as per their relationship to the music being 
played.I know about this but I'm unusual; many folks there probably didn't.

Still, I look forward to hearing more from the Westfield Center and 
applaud their efforts in focusing attention on early keyboards 
(suggestion: clavichord & even fortepiano should not be left out)?

Peter Yingling

Prescott, Arizona


::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Note:  opinions  expressed on HPSCHD-L are those of the  individual con-
tributors and not necessarily  those of the list owners  nor of the Uni-
versity of Iowa.  For a brief  summary of list  commands, send mail to
[log in to unmask]  saying  HELP .
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::