Joseph Spencer wrote:
 
>A short while later Leonhardt entered the room, the door was closed and
>locked, and he sat down to try the instrument.  He played for about 40
>minutes- one of the nicest recitals in my experience.  He had already
>put his name on the first Mietke copy from the Paris Dowd workshop,
>already under construction.  He expressed great pleasure with this
>instrument.
 
Well, I sure would have given my eye teeth to have been there! Five years ago
last summer, though, I did have the privilege of playing Leonhardt's Mietke
(from the Paris Dowd shop) at his house in Amsterdam. Also got to play his
Lefebure (the most marvelous harpsichord I've ever laid hands on), as well as
his stunning copy of the Vaudry by Skowroneck. I took a photograph of
Leonhardt improvising on the latter instrument, and a large print of it hangs
on my office wall.
 
Jay McCarty
Fort Worth, TX
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"Scientia non habet inimicvm nisi ignorantem"