mikeweil

Definitively looks like Warren Smith.

Looks very good!

Van Asperen's recordings of Louis Couperin and Johann Jakob Froberger on Aeolus are indeed the best one can buy right now of the music of these masters. Fantastic historic harpsichords, excellent playing and comments and perfect sound.

When I went to sleep last night, this was my choice: This morning, it was: Right now: Pierre Sprey recorded jazz the ultimate way.

https://lucaguglielmi.com

Listening to the samples reminds me of the reasons why I skipped this when it was released - I don't like her agogics. In Bach's music it is all there, you don't have to manipulate tone durations too much, which she does. Just let it flow. That's what his son Carl Philip Emanuel told us. For the Goldbergs I would recommend someone using a German type harpsichord, like Luca Guglielmi, Andreas Staier, Ottavio Dantone.

Do you know what harpsichord she plays on this CD? And what is the playing time?

Perfect imitation of Spanish guitar arpeggios on harpsichord!

Brandywine Baroque organizes concerts and recordings with historic instruments from the Flint Collection, videos give a good impression in perfect sound. https://www.brandywinebaroque.org https://www.plectra.org

There a plenty of great sounding historic harpsichords or copies in the USA - when you have a chance go hear them played. There is a nice group of players in New York. https://www.rpechefsky.com

Knowledge about instruments and their construction has increased enormously over the last decades. The harpsichords Landowska used were made by piano builders trying to use methods of piano construction, which in the end did not yield satisfying results. (These instruments mockingly were described as "egg slicers" in Germany) It has a lot to do with string tension and tuning pitch, as well as soundboard construction, housings and pinboards. Only in the 1960's did builders start to study and meticulously copy historic harpsichords, and they learned a lot in that process. They now are on the same level as the great instrument makers in the 17th and 18th centuries. And they now know the differences between different historic workshops and regional styles etc. The sound of Landowska's or Ruzickova's harpschords has a lot to do with this. (I just got a 10 CD box with remastered Landowska recordings but still have to listen to it.) Plus, most engineers and record producers stll have to learn how to record these instruments properly. They love the sound ambience of churches, but harpsichords are not suppoosed to sound good in there. Saloons, private apartments, much smaller rooms with little reverb, and intimate acoustics are appropriate. Many of Gustav Leonhardt's best recordings were made at his house in Amsterdam. Overtones are very important, for the timbre. Church reverb absorbs these. As I said, a very complex subject.

I think these categories - in case they already were in use - were not taken that seriously by musicians. I think they never were - I know comprarable examples in Baroque etc times. Much of the problem comes from the (unnecessary?) desire to make judgements, evaluations and the like. Are critics always musicians that kind of didn't find their way into music mnaking?

Same here!

All the CDs by Tobias Koch! https://www.genuin.de/_new/artist_1.php?lan=de&k=49 For Opus 1-4, this rare disc: https://www.discogs.com/release/29520091-Robert-Schumann-John-Van-Buskirk-Schumann-Piano-Works And this one: There are cheap copies of the last one on amazon.de

This is one of the best Schumann discs I have!

Kinga Głyk – Real Life

Just put it in the player! And ordered a copy of the Norris Turney a few minutes ago.

Oh well ..... two albums I actually have. That I did not recognize Poindexter is a big shame, having researched his discography. I bought the Charles Williams because I love Larry Willis and the way Pierre Sprey's recordings sound. Will have to pull this out. That series on Mapleshade is a treasure trove. Thanks, Dan!

A friend invited me to join him to see Salvador Sobral on Thursday. The samples sound interesting ...

Take away the bebop from Shearing and listen to his solo piano pieces. Here's Jean Wiener's take on Gershwin, recorded 1928: Of course they do not swing like the American black pianists. Gershwin swung , in his way.

There's a tradition in France and Great Britain of pianists playing "jazz", that is what they thought it to be at the time. The Thibaudet track belongs to that, in my ears. I think of Bily Mayerl, or Jean Wiener. In Germany, Erwin Schulhoff and Paul Hindemith made money with playing in cabarets and even composed ragtimes and dance stuff. I remember a letter by Hindemith where he offered it to his publisher as he thought it would sell. (There was a lot of this before the Nazis put an end to this.) From this it is not very far to Ravel or Milhaud and their (genuine) insterest in jazz. To me. Gershwin belongs more into this tradition than jazz. Take someone like George Shearing coming out of this tradition. The Cuban and Carribean pianists playing dance stuff with their conservatory training is a similar stream, take Lecuona.