Michael R Sponseller wrote:
 
>Is anybody interested in talking (not flaming) about
>the antiques and even discussing the builders of today??
 
I wonder if anyone on the list saw the article in the August 1994
_Early_Music_ by Wm. Kroesbergen (I'm surely clobbering his name, but it's
the fellow who built the Flemish hpschd that Ton Koopman has recorded on)
and a co-author.  I ignored the non-harpsichord portions of the article
... 8-),  but the thrust of the harpsichord section was that 18th century
harpsichords were relatively LOUD, due to thin soundboards and heavy voicing
(though the authors acknowledge that the latter was not recommended for
beginners, citing the familiar admonition to that effect in F. Couperin's
_L'Art de Toucher de Clavecin_).
 
One wonders how we might view the sound and playability of such an instrument
today.  I haven't had the privilege of touching an antique harpsichord, but
my teacher claims the ones she's played generally suffer from "wimpy" voicing.
 
Don
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Don Cameron    [log in to unmask]   | you are in a maze of twisty little
Hewlett-Packard, Cupertino CA   | hemi-demi-semiquavers, all alike ...
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