Davitt makes some excellent points, seeing the topic from different 
angles that are worthy of further development. I will restrict my 
selection to a few of them.

 >I'm not sure that this thread is really about "Bach". To me, the point of
 >David's original comment was the way so many of our pianist colleagues,
 >excellent musicians, seem to prefer JSB on the piano. The subject here is
 >not Bach, it's the twentieth-century grand piano. I have found that this is
 >generally the most fruitful terrain on which to engage them in mutually
 >productive discussions.

In my case, there was a difference: I came to the harpsichord through 
dissatisfaction with the modern piano in baroque music, specifically 
Bach. As to Davitt's point that my "complaint" is not about "Bach", I 
agree: Bach was the only Baroque keyboard compoaser that I tried to 
play on the piano -- the rest were either unknown to me (Froberger 
... who?), or I played them on the organ (Louis Couperin, Sweelinck, 
Pachelbel), on which instrument their music complained less.

 >The black Steinway of the 1930s now purveys such a standardized sound,
 >look, and feel that relatively few pianists even notice how "1930s" it is
 >as an object, in all its decorative bluntness and utilitarian design. They
 >just see it as "a piano", that's what "a piano" is to them.

The concept that the modern concert grand is also an historical 
instrument, almost a century old, could be used as evidence that 
those who prefer it are caught in the same time warp as those who 
play harpsichords! In many respects it may be a question of a 
preference for the familiar.

 >I wonder who first came up with the silly concept of "bringing out the
 >fugal theme" on the piano?

Yes: quite silly, but probably it was somone who wanted the listeners 
to know that he could recognise the theme when inverted, and could 
attend simultaneously to five voices in stretto.

 >Benjamin Britten in his famous "Aspen Lecture" (31 July 1964) commented on
 >the "holy triangle of composer, performer and listener" that is necessary
 >for what he (rather dubiously) called "true musical *experience*". (I am
 >suspicious of such claims to artistic "truth".) I used to find this
 >triangle useful, but I no longer do. For me, it has to be a quadrangle:
 >composer, instrument, performer, and listener. And  even pentagular,
 >including in the mix the hall/room/acoustic in which the musical experience
 >occurs.

Quotations from that lecture provided me with many examination 
questions in the past, and the concept that Davitt identifies as 
"pentangular" is one that I have espoused in recording. Most books on 
audio recording eventually get around to drawing diagrams of where to 
put the microphone for specific solo instruments, none of which I 
have ever found of any use at all. Perhaps in that discipline it is 
obvious that, in addition to the instrument, the hall/room/acoustic 
plays a part (though this is often not mentioned in the books), but, 
unfortunately, the composer and performer are never considered in the 
textbooks.

 >And as for JSB, no one should be deprived of intimate contact, through ears
 >eyes and fingers, of this greatest of all musical minds. I'm very happy if
 >people enjoy his music on saxophones, synthesizers, kotos, Swingle voices,
 >or didgeridoos. But in making that statement, I'm well aware that I'm there
 >taking the (deeply flawed) essentialist view that "Bach" -- namely the
 >product of that amazing musical intellect -- survives quite independently
 >of the instrumental medium.

He does; but only if the performer is able to look beyond the 
available textures of Bach's original work, and adapt the music to 
the new medium. It is precisely when someone like Wendy Carlos 
imitates the harpsichord that "Switched on Bach" shows its 
limitations: when fantasy is allowed to reign, the results are very 
enjoyable -- and even bear repeated listening.

David

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
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 .
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::