Jon-o wrote:

>Is anyone actively improvising at the harpsichord? Are there any CDs
>available with much of it? And what sort of style of music is being
>made?

Well . . .
I (and doubtless many others on the list) heard the fantasitic Finnish (two n's in that word?) clavichordist Mikko Koronen (Ha!  Sorry about the miserably butchered spelling) improvise in the style of Frescobaldi, J.C. Bach, Beethoven, and others at the Boston EMF several years ago.

Ron McKean in the Bay Area is an impressive improvisor, too, and is able to extemporaneously produce preludes, fugues, sonatas . . . I remember one particularly amazing afternoon, him trying to show a few of us how to practice exercises involving ascending scales and 5-6 suspensions, and he then exclaimed, "and THAT's how you improvise a fugue!", which he proceeded to do with great success.  He's a nice composer, too, and one of the few who writes really idiomatic music for the harpsichord.

I, for one, would love to learn to do this.  I suppose the way to start is to brush up on my harmony and counterpoint knowledge . . .
--
best,
Jon
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Jonathan Rhodes Lee
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