I confess that I no longer wish to engage in "battle" or feel it necessary
to convince modern pianists to play Bach on a harpsichord -- or early
Cristofori/Silbermann piano for that matter.  I have given up on older
generation performers, those established piano teachers in universities
that believe the modern piano has such a unique and difficult-to-master
technique that to play an early keyboard would be to ruin one's carefully
crafted mastery.  I believe our only hope now is the younger generation of
university students, who, I have found, if given the opportunity to hear
early keyboards are absolutely fascinated.

Carol lei Breckenridge



On Sat, Jun 9, 2018, 4:41 PM David Pickett <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I know I am preaching to the choir here, so do
> not feel obliged to respond to this obvious vent
> about what is probably the bleeding obvious to you all...
>
> I read today of yet another recording of the
> Goldberg Variations on the mighty Steinway
> (Beatrice Rana). I can only suppose that pianists
> are either unable to master the harpsichord, or
> just stuck in a Gould/Busoni mindset.
>
> Having tried for YEARS to play Bach's music on
> the piano, I was never able to do so with
> conviction or personal satisfaction. Certain
> features seemed so badly composed for the
> instrument -- until I discoverd harpsichords 20
> or so years ago and all fell in place. (I can
> enjoy Glenn Gould's recordings from time to time,
> but when I hear him play works that are familiar
> to me in harpsichord guise I am unable to recognise them as the same
> pieces!)
>
> Clearly the "battle" of persuading musicians to
> play baroque keyboard music on appropriate
> instruments is not won. At first the
> "traditionalists" had a point in that the results
> were often unmusical, and in many cases they
> still are, though the pendulum has swung from
> sewing machine to unrhythmical. Today it seems
> that one is either a player of a Steinway
> /Bösendorfer or an "early keyboardist". Why are
> these two so incompatible? Why must a player be
> considered committed to one and not the other?
> (Aside: in his edition of the 48, e.g. his notes
> to the B minor P&F of Book I, Tovey refers
> approvingly to the clavichord; was he the first modern pianist to do this?)
>
> How to convince the seemingly invincibly
> ignorant, who are often nice people, and who can
> play the heck out of Liszt and Brahms, but not
> enter into the spirit of Froberger or the
> Couperins, and who seemingly imagine that Bach
> would have wasted hours of his life composing for
> the wretched instruments that they take harpsichords and clavichords to be?
>
> Collectively it seems we are doing something
> wrong in not being able to win this "battle".
>
> David
>
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::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
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 .
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::