# Harpsichord music played on the Piano.



## presto (Jun 17, 2011)

Being a bit of a purest and an authentic performance nut, I’m becoming more convinced the more I listen to the Harpsichord the piano only seems like second best in this repertory.
I know performers like Glenn Gould and more recently Angelina Hewitt have become well known for fine performances of Bach and Scarlatti on the Piano. But even with the best intentions it never sounds as exciting and to my ear somewhat distant from the real spirit of the music.
All the focus and sharp edges of the music seem to get blunted, I much rather hear my Harpsichord music played on the instrument it was originally intended for.


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## jaimsilva (Jun 1, 2011)

I can easily agree with you. Anyway I prefer the Bach keyboard concertos played on the piano then on the hapsichord. But I would say that it sounds different - I'm not a purist, so I cannot put that question in a definitive way!


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## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

It's ANGELA Hewitt, not Angelina (she'd be quite offended you got her name wrong). I don't like Baroque music played on the harpsichord for one simple reason - it's the WRONG INSTRUMENT. Just because both instruments have a keyboard it doesn't mean they are interchangeable. Had Bach written for the piano, no doubt the music would have been different (just as his harpsichord and organ music is different). It's no good to argue that, had the piano been available to Bach, he would have written for it - he didn't, simple as that. Should we play his oboe and flute works on the clarinet (it's long and straight and has keys, after all)? I have read somewhere that Bach actually tried-out an early Cristofori pianoforte and didn't much care for it.

The way the harpsichord and piano produces their sounds and the qualities of their individual timbres make them very separate instruments to me and definitely not interchangeable.


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

presto said:


> Being a bit of a purest and an authentic performance nut, I'm becoming more convinced the more I listen to the Harpsichord the piano only seems like second best in this repertory.
> I know performers like Glenn Gould and more recently Angelina Hewitt have become well known for fine performances of Bach and Scarlatti on the Piano. But even with the best intentions it never sounds as exciting and to my ear somewhat distant from the real spirit of the music.
> All the focus and sharp edges of the music seem to get blunted, I much rather hear my Harpsichord music played on the instrument it was originally intended for.


Agree entirely. I also think the original keyboard version assumed when the piece was composed ought to be appreciated rather than just taking on the modern grand piano version for granted. Sure, the latter offers very capable interpretations of the work under the right hands and many modern listeners have come to appreciate the pieces, but the original instrument assumed at the right pitch and other performance practice of the time should not simply be ignored (for example, repeats). One thing I find when early music is played on the harpsichord is that both the left and right hands are not at odds with each other; both playing as effectively, whereas on a modern piano, often the left hand sounds either too loud or subdued etc. The earlier the piece, the greater the difference, and certain repertoire just don't work as well as the harpsichord/early keyboard version, such as French Baroque keyboard music, where the musical textures are extremely light and transparent.


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## presto (Jun 17, 2011)

Yes it’s often the transparency that’s missing in the piano, the textures all fill in and the balance lost particularly with the faster movements.
Luckily there’s enough Harpsichord versions about to not bother with the piano.


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## regressivetransphobe (May 16, 2011)

There's a certain atmosphere you get with a harpsichord that you can't really get with piano. Baroque is supposed to sound dated, because it is. You don't go dressing up your grandfather in pink shutter glasses and band shirts.


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## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

regressivetransphobe said:


> There's a certain atmosphere you get with a harpsichord that you can't really get with piano. Baroque is supposed to sound dated, because it is. You don't go dressing up your grandfather in pink shutter glasses and band shirts.


Oh, how ageist!


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

*Happy to learn...*

... that there are harpsichord 'purist' members of TC. Maybe some of you are even '20-somethings' or younger.

The evidence is strong that J.S. Bach did not compose anything with the piano in mind. D. Scarlatti probably didn't either, though pianos were probably accessible to him (the palace contained several). So... every non-organ keyboard work they composed is playable on a harpsichord.

Forbidding the piano musician access to the music is going a bit beyond the pale though. The harpsichord is at a severe disadvantage compared to the piano in terms of expressiveness, because it lacks any flexibility in dynamics; 'note clusters' are not enough. Yes, I have heard Valenti's Scarlatti, and the added clangor he often introduced is also insufficient.

I do not wish to insinuate that the harpsichord is a crippled instrument compared to the piano; that would be analogous to stating that the lute is a crippled instrument (compared to anything). I'm saying that Bach's 'clavier' works and Scarlatti's sonatas benefit from being played on both instruments. The extended range of interpretation thus made available is a _good_ thing.

BTW the poster who complained about the piano's um, heaviness in harpsichord music may not have heard it played on a fortepiano, say a 1790s Viennese action.

:tiphat:


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## presto (Jun 17, 2011)

I think if you have a love for music you’ll be able to appreciate both viewpoints.
I can enjoy baroque music on the piano but I prefer it on the harpsichord. 
I might be wrong but I sometimes feel it’s become a tradition because when performers started rediscovering early 18th century keyboard music there were hardly any harpsichords about at the time compared to pianos. It’s just gone on from there not because the earlier instrument was regarded as inferior.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

presto said:


> I think if you have a love for music you'll be able to appreciate both viewpoints.
> I can enjoy baroque music on the piano but I prefer it on the harpsichord.
> I might be wrong but I sometimes feel it's become a tradition because when performers started rediscovering early 18th century keyboard music there were hardly any harpsichords about at the time compared to pianos. It's just gone on from there not because the earlier instrument was regarded as inferior.


I'm not at all sure it's a tradition even. I think there are more piano recordings than harpsichord recordings because 1) there are more pianists than harpsichordists*, and 2) the recording companies anticipate more sales of piano versions.

* Are there more pianists than _any_ other musicians?


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## jaimsilva (Jun 1, 2011)

That's not directly with harpsichord, but has to do about this thread.

I was listening to this record:










Schubert "Arpeggione" sonata accompanied by pianoforte. Nicolas Deletaille is playing a copy of a "Arpeggione" and sounds great to me (better then any other cello versions I've listened before) while the Pianoforte (Conrad Graf, circa 1820) don't sounds so bright. And as far as I know that was the kind of instruments Schubert composed for...


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Delicious Manager said:


> It's ANGELA Hewitt, not Angelina (she'd be quite offended you got her name wrong). I don't like Baroque music played on the *harpsichord* for one simple reason - it's the WRONG INSTRUMENT. Just because both instruments have a keyboard it doesn't mean they are interchangeable.


Ironically, it looks like you also made a bit of a grammatical error here.


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## haydnfan (Apr 13, 2011)

For me it's all about what the performer brings to the table and not what instrument is used. There are great performances on both harpsichord and piano. Harpsichord offers subtle rhythmic nuances not found on the piano while the piano offers subtle tonal shading not found on the harpsichord. Whether you listen to Bach's Well Tempered Clavier performed by Leonhardt or Richter, the music is profound and the performances deep in their own ways. I disagree with the bulk of the posts that make this seem like a black and white issue.


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

Delicious Manager said:


> It's ANGELA Hewitt, not Angelina (she'd be quite offended you got her name wrong). I don't like Baroque music played on the *harpsichord* for one simple reason - it's the WRONG INSTRUMENT.


I think you meant to say piano there?

Anyway, as both a harpsichordist and pianist, I heartily agree. The harpsichord plays and feels very differently from the piano: the keys are MUCH lighter and narrower, the sound is thinner, and there is no (or very little) dynamic control or pedal. This makes writing for the harpsichord as unique as writing for the organ.

The fortepiano I'm not quite convinced on - to me it just sounds like a bad piano. Kinda like how baroque violins sound like bad violins.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Ravellian said:


> [...]
> The fortepiano I'm not quite convinced on - to me it just sounds like a bad piano. Kinda like how baroque violins sound like bad violins.


Have you heard the Peter Serkin recordings of late Beethoven - played on fortepianos from his time? The differences I hear are not attributable to bad pianos.


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Ravellian said:


> Anyway, as both a harpsichordist and pianist, I heartily agree. The harpsichord plays and feels very differently from the piano: the keys are MUCH lighter and narrower, the sound is thinner, and there is no (or very little) dynamic control or pedal. This makes writing for the harpsichord as unique as writing for the organ.


Cool. An accountant in training, a harpsichordist and a pianist. Describe the harpsichord(s) you played/experience if you don't mind. Double manual/single manual? Modern copy of a period instrument? Curious.


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

For me it mostly depends on the piece itself as to which I prefer


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## Guest (Jul 1, 2011)

I like what sounds good to me. If you were to ask me on a purely hypothetical level, I would say I prefer harpsichord pieces played on the harpsichord. However, in practice, it is what sounds most pleasing. Take the Goldberg Variations, for example. I have recordings by Masaaki Suzuki and Trevor Pinnock on harpsichord, which I love. But my favorite recording is by Murray Perahia on piano. I enjoy the WTC on Clavichord by Kirkpatrick almost as much as I do the recording by Schiff on piano. For a time, I was a purist. But lately I have decided that there is no point in me being ideological on this point - I am by no means a musicologist, nor an expert on classical music. I starting listening to classical music because I really started to appreciate it more than the less fulfilling music I had been listening to, and so ultimately it comes down to what sounds good. I like HIP, but mainly because I like the way such recordings sound, not due to any intellectual reasoning. So if something comes along that sounds better, that is what I listen to.


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