>Peter Redstone writes:
>Beecham's other comment on the sound of the harpsichord was to liken
>the sound to "beating a birdcage with a toasting fork".

Oh, dear.  Documentation is a dilemma in such famous quotes 
instances.  I've always known this line thusly:  A student asked 
Vaughan Williams why he had not written anything using the 
harpsichord.  He is to have replied, "If I wanted the sound of a 
brass birdcage beaten with a spoon, I'd have scored for it."

So unless a reporter noted down carefully that "this afternoon, 
Maestro Beecham mentioned...." or the student transcribed in his 
diary, "I asked Dr. VW..., and he said...." how are we to know?

Cheers.
Paul