Ladder of Escape 10: Contemporary Music for Harpsichord - Roderick de Man - Hope Lee - Alexander Voormolen - Louis Andriessen - Giel Vleggar - Geoffrey King - Joe Cutler - JacobTV - Various Artists - Annelie de Man, Harpsichord - Attacca 2008

Let's have a little musical bipolarity. Elegant music by Couperin and Royer followed by this disc of modern works for harpsichord and various instruments. 

Voormolen's "Suite de Clavecin" is the most accessible work here, and my other favorite is Louis Andriessen's "Dubblespoor" for vibraphone, glockenspiel, celesta, vibraphone and harpsichord, also quite approachable. Then, we have a piece such as JacobTV's "Doggie Steps" for violin, cello, harpsichord and tape - the tape portion includes barking dogs, a few cats (which I like, it recalls the music of P. Bimmstein) and a female voice (I assume the harpsichordist) speaking about "taking doggy steps". "even overweight dogs... now you can give him a leg up with doggy steps". This piece seems to be an imagined commercial, with it's chopped up vocals, the speaker sounding as if she has inhaled too much laughing gas. Or perhaps she's very high and very excited about the product. This piece is not for everyone, that is for sure. As an amusement I quite like it, it is humorous and the actual music that rides along with the vocals is fun, actually it's very good I think. It would be nice to hear a version of the piece without the spoken word.

I have included booklet scans.

Enjoy!

Ladder_Of_Escape-Modern_Harpsichord-Tzadik.zip

http://www15.zippyshare.com/v/gS81Poqv/file.html

Vertigo: Harpsichord Music of 18th Century France: Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer, Pieces de Clavecin Francois Couperin, Septiême Ordre - Troisiême Ordre Mark Kroll, Harpsichord - Newport Classics 1988

This is one of my favorite earlier discs of 18th century harpsichord music. Mark Kroll's playing is nothing short of outstanding here, which is not much of a surprise. He is one of the greatest harpsichordists of the 20th century. When I first heard J-N-P Royer's harpsichord music I went wild; it's just electric, highly sophisticated and mind-bogglingly virtuosic. Couperin ("le Grande") needs little introduction. His elegant and evocative keyboard works are shimmering diamonds all, among the finest that the repertoire has to offer.

Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer (1705-1755) was born in Turin, however, he moved to Paris in 1725 and soon became responsible for the musical education of King Louis XV's children. Royer is particularly known for his extravagant and virtuosic harpsichord compositions, as displayed here in the Pieces de Clavecin (The first piece is "La Vertigo", hence the album title. It's chugging motoric drive is exciting and one can almost imagine the melting of the keys whilst it's being attempted!)

Mark Kroll, 1980s

I hope everyone enjoys this divine collection

Vertigo-18th_Century_Fr_Harpsichord_Music-Tzadik.zip

http://www77.zippyshare.com/v/sxdfTmo4/file.html

J.S. Bach - The Transcriptions for Solo Harpsichord of Concertos by Vivaldi and the Marcello Brothers - Sophie Yates, Harpsichord - Chandos 2013

These elegant and delicious transcriptions for solo harpsichord I have been listening to much the last

couple days; I am indebted to Pappa Bach for distracting me from a good deal of chaos over the week. Sophie Yates plays this music with such precision and mastery; something to behold indeed! 

Around 1714 J.S. Bach suddenly (and apparently without provocation) transcribed and adapted a number of Italian instrumental concertos, mainly by Antonio Vivaldi, for the keyboard. Why he did so is subject to some speculation, though it is often suggested that he had become aware of the publication a couple of years earlier in Amsterdam of Vivaldi’s op. 3 L’estro armonico, possibly through the efforts of his patron, Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar. While it's true that his main duties in Weimar at the time were mainly as an organist, he also provided a host of other musical services, including secular concerts, for which these transcriptions were probably most adaptable. Moreover, they offered him the opportunity to absorb thoroughly the popular Italian style. 

Clearly, a simple transcription would not suffice for the sort of work that Bach envisioned, and moreover there are inevitable difficulties in arranging the various orchestral ritornellos, though of course the unison openings offered an immediate solution. His arrangements often transpose the works to fit the keyboard compass better. Nowhere is this better demonstrated than in the version of Alessandro Marcello's Oboe Concerto, now transposed up a whole step to D Minor, or in the C-Minor Concerto by his brother Benedetto, which was originally in E Minor. The result is to bring the works into a more intimate and manageable focus, even though they do not lose their often virtuoso lines. The result is somewhat of a tour de force that has intrigued keyboardists (mainly harpsichordists) for a long time. Moreover, the art of the transcription reaches pretty much its apex here, for one cannot deny that Bach has essentially turned these concertos into brand-new works, in essence deconstructing and recomposing already well-known and acknowledged significant pieces, thus giving them an alternative life. 

Enjoy all

J.S.Bach_Transcriptions_for_Solo_Harpsichord-Tzadik.zip

http://www62.zippyshare.com/v/NIfesj8M/file.html