Stunning Harpsichord Recording


I came across a 2008 Harmonia Mundi release of Purcell's keyboard music today, played on harpsichord by Richard Egarr.

It may help that Purcell is just about my favorite composer, but the recording quality of the harpsichord is stunning. IME the harpsichord has not comfortably translated to audio, but this recording does.
jimjoyce25

Showing 2 responses by opalchip

There's no question that for some reason solo harpsichord is very difficult to record well. I think also that a lot of harpsichords themselves just aren't that enjoyable to listen to. So it's a tough combination.

Anyway - I've had A LOT of harpsichord LP's go through here and I listen to every one at least briefly just because of the above. The good ones are rare, but very satisfying! I'd say my favorites sonically are the EMI Reflexe series with Colin Tilney playing. The William Byrd is a great one that comes to mind. I assume these are available on CD.
In a related but different vein, a wonderful lp is :
J.J. Froeberger Clavichord Music, Thurston Dart playing on the L'Oiseau Lyre label. A very warm and detailed recording of some very interesting (in a mellow way) music.
Well if you're talking Cristofori, then the must have recording is Horszowski playing Music of Lodovico Giustini on the 1720 Cristofori Pinaoforte at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, on Titanic Records. This is the very first music composed specifically for piano being played on the oldest surviving piano! And at the time of the recording Horszowski, who lived to 100, was almost as old as the piano! It's a warm 2 lp recording. Not sure if it has made it to CD as well.