*_Judith Robison wrote as documentation 1/2_* From 1760 to 1790, far-reaching and rapid changes took place in the European musical world. New tastes and styles coincided and competed with old ones, the small, intimate drawing-room recital expanded into larger concerts, and instruments, began to change their tone and character through new mechanical inventions. Esthetically, the period was one of intense concern for delicate shades of emotion, expressed musically by modulations of piano-forte and a cantabile style of phrasing. These had always been the characteristics of clavichord playing, the soft-toned instrument that J. 5. Bach had regarded as the best tutor for the keyboard performer, and the second half of the 18th century in Germany and Austria saw an upsurge of interest in the clavichord, as well as great enthusiasm for the new forte piano. With our 20th-century habit of dividing history into neat categories, we tend to imagine the piano as springing full-blown from the head of Zeus into 18th-century salons, pushing the older harpsichord unceremoniously out the door, and invincibly coopting the imaginations of contemporary composers. Yet Mozart did not buy his first forte piano until shortly before 1784, when he was 28, and Haydn, being older and more conservative, did not get his until 1788, when he was 56. During the 70s, it had become fashionable for well-to-do music lovers to own forte pianos, and both composers, especially Mozart, had often played the instrument when invited to perform, but its entry into musical life was gradual. Mozart (1756-1791) was equally intrigued and frustrated by the early forte piano, which he considered a bigger and better version of the clavichord. Until he visited Andreas Stein's workshop, in October 1777, he had not found any make of piano that was mechanically up to playing his compositions. The instrument was still in its childhood, and problems such as inadequate damping, uneven regulation, blocking by the hammers, and a workable sustaining pedal were taxing makers' ingenuity. As solutions to these problems progressed, Mozart turned more and more toward the forte piano as his favorite keyboard instrument. In his childhood and adolescence, Mozart was famous as a harpsichordist and clavichordist, and he continued to perform publicly on these instruments until the early 1780s, when he started carrying his own Walter forte piano around with him. He was also skilled on the organ. His earlier keyboard works show a mixture of the styles of both harpsichord and clavichord, and he played his music on either, depending on the circumstances. He was as fussy about the mechanical condition of his harpsichords as he was about the forte pianos: they should be large instruments with a variety of timbre and contrasts, in perfect regulation, and preferably with a machine stop to control the volume by automatically changing registers. These big harpsichords, although more brilliant, were equivalent in loudness to the 18th-century forte pianos, which, it must be remembered, bore little resemblance to our :modern pianos. Mozart's sister Nannerl, who never took up the forte piano, refused to perform if she felt that the proffered harpsichord was in any way defficient.
ENFIN! Le VRAI son authentique des concertos de MOZART tels qu'il les a conçus et joués! On attend avec impatience les superbes n°18, 20, 21, 22, etc..... Merci à vous et tous nos encouragements!
I bought this record around 1970. I remember the notes telling me that this concerto was written for a young player who was basically a harpsichordist. Great to hear a fine player reminding us that the harpsichord did and does exist! If anyone can tell me (a harpsichordist) why it has almost dropped from broadcasters' lists, I would be grateful.
Good point, I remember in my youth there was a harpsichord recital every month here in Amsterdam, but the last 30 years it seems that the instruments has vanished.
This piece is such a magnificent little gem of the repertoire. Mozart was a "kid" when he wrote this (20/21) at least from today's perspective (perhaps not by Mozart's). The piece is fun, to listen to certainly, and I'm guessing to play as well. Thank you Harpsichord Vinyl Gallery (whoever you are, lol).
This is the very recording I had mentioned earlier today in my comment on the Kipnis recording of Bach. I had been familiar with the Haydn concerto, but not the Mozart, and when I finally did listen to it, I felt my life had changed. It is deeper and more interesting than the Haydn, and more sophisticated in the keyboard writing, and so on. I became life-long fan of Mozart thanks to this recording, and still have it on my shelf today.
It becomes apparent to me from the comments, that this was a very important recording. However, in Europe I have never seen it at all. Distribution of vinyl recordings from Northern America failed in the age before the CD was introduced (1983/4).
@@fnd111 I contacted the one who had sent me his copy: "I got my copy at Discogs. There are still many copies for sale, some of them still sealed:www.discogs.com/sell/release/5083563 "
@@HarpsichordVinylGallery This recording was my introduction to Mozart’s pre-#20 (late) concertos and Haydn’s keyboard works (concertos or sonatas), in the early 1970s. I was immediately struck by the naturalness with which the harpsichord meshed with the simple strings+pair of oboes and horns textures of Mozart’s and Haydn’s works. Piquant textures, rythmically alert articulation that make most piano performances sound just a tad too soft and sweet. I’ve listened to dozens of performances of these works on piano/fortepiano and while most are perfectly good, none give this tangible taste of sour cream and paprika that made me smile goofily when I was 17. While the Kipnis/Marriner’s recording of the JS Bach concerti is available, the Mozart/Haydn never made it to CD. Why, oh why ? 😩 .
In the interview with the magazine The Harpsichord (1969) Igor Kipnis said: "I think there is too much of a tendency any way to separate the idea of the fortepiano and harpsichord. They were very close. I decided that the Mozart E flat concerto was for the harpsichord. It sounds very well on the harpsichord, so I play it on the harpsichord. In addition to the recording I will play it three times with orchestra. One of those performances will be in London."
@@HarpsichordVinylGallery Indeed. And even right up to Beethoven's early keyboard sonatas, it was common for his keyboard works to be published as being for both harpsichord or fortepiano... including Beethoven's well known Moonlight sonata. The later dominance of the fortepiano over the harpsichord was a very gradual process during the latter 18th century
@@clavichord I heard from Robert Tifft, the person who made this recording available, that there was another release on the harpsichord by Siegbert Rampe from the early 1990s on the Intercord label
@@HarpsichordVinylGallery Hi David, I thought I sent you the sealed recording of these concertos. You were kind enough to transfer it to CD and post it to me. If you don't actually need my copy of the LP which gifted to you in order to upload to YT, I would like to have it back. Thank you.
@@PeterBrownlee-m1i Hi Peter Brownlee. I guess you are mistaken. HarpsichordVinylGallery at TH-cam is a collaboration between some friends (Daniël Beuman, Robert Tifft and me) and I guess you might refer to David Kelzenberg with 'David'? It might have been that 'David' had sent you a message with a link of the Mozart-performance at TH-cam? All the hard labour of transferring the Mozart-vinyl by Kipnis, scanning the documentation and providing the interview with Kipnis from The Harpsichord, was done by Robert Tifft and David has nothing to do with the TH-cam-performance. I guess you should ask David in a personal mail to return the vinyl.
Somehow I missed this lp. After hearing it here, I immediately bought it. Kipnis & Marriner were a wonderful partnership, as we know from their Bach concertos, so I wasn't surprised to find they were hand-in-glove here. The engineer did an excellent job balancing the hc with the orchestra, which was often not the case when this lp was made. Thanks for this superb post.
*_Interview with Igor Kipnis magazine The Harpsichord (US) May-July 1969 2/5_* A kind Westminster engineer consented to do the taping at my home since WNYC was not going to pay for transporting my harpsichord to the studios. "One fine day, in the middle of winter, we taped a half an hour show. We rolled up the rugs, turned off the heater because of the knocking which was prevalent at that time, and in that colossal chill, I started in. That first effort was broadcast in 1959 and that could be called my official debut. "Then one thing led to another. A few people had heard the broadcast and commented on it. I got to play the Fifth Brandenburg with the Greenwich Village Symphony and that was my live debut. "I was still doing many other things. I worked for a chain of F.M. stations and somehow the boat really sank with that company. Actually, I should precede that with the fact that Westminster went bankrupt also, but that was two months after I left so that had nothing to do with me. The chain of F.M. stations wanted me to go to Washington state and I told them that that was ridiculous, or words to that effect. I was doing more and more playing in New York and as much as I like Washington, New York was the center of all my activities. So I found myself without a job. What was I to do? Try to find a regular job, or go freelance? I decided to go freelance. I started writing record reviews for Hi-Fi/Stereo, which I still do. I also started writing concert reviews for the now defunct New York Herald Tribune. I was there for a year when suddenly I found myself being reviewed in print by other people who reviewed my live concerts. Summer came and went, the usual dry season and when Fall arrived and musical activity started again, no one said anything to me about doing reviews again. I began to wonder what was wrong, especially since I noticed that some of my other colleagues were starting in with the regular Fall season. I asked the Music Editor what was wrong. He told me that 'the people upstairs' noticed that my name was appearing in reviews as well as at the end of reviews. Not at the same time, of course, but they wanted to know whether I was playing or reviewing. I thought I had been doing a little bit of both, but they didn't care for that, and I had to quit. This wasn't really serious since I did a lot of hack work writing program notes, jacket notes for records and things of that sort. At this point I took another good look at my situation. I had given some thoughts about becoming a professional for I had already made some recordings, although not solo. "In January 1962 I made my recital debut. At the same time, I got my first contract with a small record company called Golden Press which was a God-send. The one thing I think necessary today, if you plan to make any kind of career on any instrument, whether you are playing harpsichord or the kazoo, you have to have records. Without them, you don't stand a chance. Here I was given an opportunity to make two solo records. I think I was a little out of my mind at the time, but I didn't know any better. I made two records in the space of two days. Each record was about forty minutes of music. One was an all Bach collection. The other was a Handel Fifth Suite, the Soler Fandango, some Bach and a number by Dussek: The Sufferings of the Queen of France, which is a piece I dug up. It is a great programmatic thing, if not particularly great piece of music. It took them two years to release the records. They kept saying business was bad. Business is always bad in the record world. There doesn't ever seem to be a good time of year . . . unless of course you have the field cornered. I was doing more and more continuo work both on records and live performances. I now had a manager and things have been going up ever since. A year ago I went to Europe for the first time. I received a Martha Beard Rockefeller Grant because going to Europe is expensive, even if you are just going by yourself for fun. If you want to take a harpsichord along with you, it becomes even more expensive. I decided I would really prefer playing on my own instrument so I took it over to Europe by boat, in my own car and then rode all around Europe. THE HARPSICHORD: This is rather unique. Most harpsichordists usually use the instrument which is available. KIPNIS : There is a choice that I think every harpsichordist must make if he wants to play the instrument at all. He can play whatever happens to be around, in which case he's subject to whatever condition that instrument is in ... and some of them are pretty impossible. Or he can carry his own instrument. I think there is another problem. There are some people who adapt very easily to all kinds of instruments. They can play the piano and a minute later play the harpsichord and a minute later play the clavichord. Some people have that sort of technique. I'm not entirely sure whether they sound well on all three, or four, or five or whatever it is, but they are able to adapt themselves very easily. There are others, rather more like myself, who will find themselves a little uncomfortable with an instrument alien \0 them, and I even think with the same make instrument but with a different disposition. This can throw you very easily. "There is one other solution. You can ship your instrument by railway express, air, truck or some such transportation. However, the problem there is that sometimes the instrument does not arrive on time. I've heard all sorts of horror stories from professional harpsichordists about their instruments not arriving on time. They finally wind up doing the recital on the piano! This has happened more often than any of us would like to believe. "I have a very good instrument, one built by Rutkowski and Robinette, and I prefer taking it around. I know what the instrument does. Recitals in general, are not easy to play. That includes any instrument or voice. There are always problems with new halls and new audiences. So at least if you have one thing that is common to all of these . . . namely the instrument . . . that's one advantage.
*_Judith Robison wrote as documentation 2/2_* The Concerto in E Flat, K. 271, was written in January, 1777, on commission for a French harpsichordist, Mademoiselle Jeunehomme, who had probably come to Salzburg on tour toward the end of 1776. Mademoiselle Jeunehomme was billed as a claviciniste (harpsichordist), and she was probably not very familiar with the forte piano, as the Parisians were not only very conservative musically but had few pianos, small-sized English imports in a few rich homes. The autograph of the work is headed Concerto per il Clavicembalo ..- .-. One cannot say, however, that Mozart specifically intended to write a "harpsichord" concerto, any more than he intended to write a "Forte piano" concerto. He wrote a concerto for a keyboard instrument. He himself played it on a "wretched" piano in Munich in October 1777, and his sister played it on the harpsichord in Salzburg in January 1778. The concerto is in three movements: Allegro; a meditative cantabile Andantino; and a Rondeau, presto, with a Minuet as middle section. Mozart prepared the score very carefully, as he intended to publish it, along with K. 238 and K. 246-concerti written in 1776, in Paris when he was there for six months in 1778. He provided his own cadenzas for the first and second movements, as well as two sets of cadenzas for the third. The score also includes a figured bass, indicating a continuo, for which a separate harpsichord has been used in this recording. The composer also added phrase markings and filled in all the lead ins, short, nonthematic improvisations linking sections of a movement. Unfortunately, the publishing plans came to nothing. Franz Josef Haydn (1732-1809) was twenty-four years Mozart's senior. As an artist, he had matured much more slowly and had been fortunate in being able to settle down in 1761 to the steady position of court composer and Kapellmeister to Prince Paul Anton Esterhazy and his successor Prince Nicolaus. Haydn loved the musical life of Vienna, but unfortunately Prince Nicolaus was of a solitary disposition and retired with his court to his country palace, Esterhaza, in Hungary for · longer and longer periods. Haydn was musical jack-of-all-trades at the court. He not only composed the music, he trained the chorus and soloists, coached the instrumentalists, saw that they were properly dressed, copied out all the parts, and directed the whole ensemble from the harpsichord. Although the Concerto in D Major, Hob. XVIII, No. 11, was listed in the Breitkopf Catalogue of 1782/ 84 as a Cembalo, the Viennese firm of Artaria published it in 1784 with the title per il clavicembalo ó fortepiano. It is usually known as Concerto No. 1, Op. 21, although Haydn had written a number of earlier chamber concerti for harpsichord or organ. Composed c. 1782, it is a bravura work, eminently suited to the harpsichord, in three movements: Vivace; Un poco adagio; and a rustic Rondo all'Ungherese: Allegro assai. Unlike Mozart in his E flat concerto, Haydn left considerable room for the performer to embellish and acid lead ins. The cadenzas in the first and second movements were composed in the 18th century and are attributed to Haydn himself. As with other concerti of the period, the bass is figured, requiring a continuo, played here by a second harpsichord, which adds immeasurably to the spiciness of the work. -Judith Robison
*_Interview with Igor Kipnis magazine The Harpsichord (US) May-July 1969 1/5_* Igor Kipnis is one of the most widely recognized harpsichordists appearing today. His recitals are anxiously awaited by music lovers on many continents. He has recorded for eight recording companies, working with such notables as Leopold Stokowski, Neville Marriner and Seiji Ozawa. He recorded an album of scatological canons and songs with the chorus directed by Norman Luboff called Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is a Dirty Old Man." Igor Kipnis is the son of the famous Metropolitan Opera basso, Alexander Kipnis. He received his first piano lessons from his grandfather, Chicago composer and pianist Heniot Levy. He has appeared with many leading symphony orchestras, working with such distinguished conductors as Erich Leinsdorf, Charles Munch and Alfred Wallenstein. He is currently engaged in a project for Records featuring the harpsichord music of various countries. During the summer he serves as Chairman of the Baroque Department at the Berkshire Music Festival (Tanglewood.) He is a contributing editor and reviewer for Hi-Fi/Stereo Review and serves as host for his own radio program "The Age of Baroque" broadcast weekly over the New York Times Station W.Q.x.R. He is a charter member of ISHB. ~ This conversation took place late one afternoon in his Greenwich Village apartment which is shared by his young family, an active cat and a beautiful harpsichord and clavichord built by Rutkowski and Robinette of New York. Mr. Kipnis has just been asked how he developed his interest in harpsichords. KIPNIS: "I have always been a record collector. Even as a youngster I had a fair collection of keyboard disks in general. Most of them are still with me as you can see. I have always been very fond of piano music. Back during the early 40's I was study- ing piano without any intent of be- coming professional, but it was some- thing I rather enjoyed. My uncle gave me my first harpsichord records. They were Victor recordings of Landows- ska's Goldberg variations. This was really my first taste of the harpsichord. I was not particularly struck with it yet, on the other hand, I listened to it and gradually I became more famil- iar with the music and my interest in it increased. "Later, in college, I was involved to a great extent with musical af- fairs. I didn't major in music although I started out that way. In my last year my wife-to-be and I were taking a course under Randall Thompson called 'The Age of Handel' which was a very stimulating course. We had various projects to do and we asked if we could play some of the Fitzwil- liam Sonatas. My wife played the re- corder and I 'fiddled' at the piano so we thought that here was a good chance to try a harpsichord. "The Harvard Music Department had a Chickering which was built by Dolmetsch in the very early part of this century. It was in wretched con- dition but at least some of it was playable. That was my first introduc- tion to a real-live harpsichord. "I received special permission to use it for our class and we performed a couple of the Fitzwilliam Sonatas. Incidentally, they were edited by Thurston Dart. Later, Dart was to become a very great influence on me although I didn't know it at that time. "After that, I went into the Army, came out, looked around for work and did a number of very curious things. I sold hooks and records for Doubleday, worked for Radio WMCA a pop music station and worked for Westminster Records for four and a half years as Art and Editorial Di- rector. It was there that I first met Valenti. Valenti has always been very friendly and this was my first relation with a real, live harpsichordist. I went to some of his recording sessions and enjoyed them very much. It Was then that I thought that it would be very nice if my wife and I could have a harpsichord rather than a piano. AI that time we didn't have a keyboard instrument around. In 1956 my parents went to Europe and they asked me just before they left if there was anything I would like for them to bring back with them. "I said; 'Yes, a harpsichord!' "We all had a very good laugh about that, for they thought I was completely out of my mind. They did not come back with a harpsichord, I must say, but they did come back with a number of catalogs. My father thought I really should have some sort of a keyboard instrument to keep me happy after work. In other words, television was not quite enough. We looked at the catalogs and finally decided on a two manual Sperrhake. That arrived about nine months later and was my first harpsichord. "1 started fooling around with it purely for my own pleasure and began to practice quite hard, but again, with nothing in mind for a profession. "One of the jobs that I had at Westminster, (which was a self-imposed job,) was to promote Westminster records on the radio stations in New York City by taking some of the programming personnel out to lunch. The fellow from WNYC knew that I played the harpsichord, but that this was only in the privacy of the home. Sometimes we would have a few professionals drop by but it was more a free jam session type of thing. He suggested that I might be interested in doing a program. I thought this over and decided that it would be an interesting thing to do.
Harpsichord Vinyl Gallery, thank you for another delightful recording. The Harpsichord, a Rutkowski & Robinette is a very interesting instrument indeed since it was a revival harpsichord with some historical harpsichord guidelines involved with the construction. Certainly less beefy as it was the reality of the Wittmayers or Neuperts from the same period. Plus, Igor Kipnis preforming what a bonus! 😊
@@HarpsichordVinylGallery I agree it is a lovely sounding instrument. Like it was in transition from the revival instruments to the historically correct harpsichords that we have today.
Merci à M. Harpsichord Vinyl Gallery d'avoir mis à disposition cet enregistrement que j'attendais depuis bien longtemps ... Ce concerto est habituellement joué au piano, mais en 1777, le pianoforte était loin de s'être imposé en France; Voltaire ne s'était d'ailleurs pas privé de le traiter "d'instrument de charbonnier" ! L'instrument américain joué par I. Kipnis est-il le meilleur choix : faible , dépourvu de basses, timbre aigrelet... ? Mademoiselle Jeunehomme aurait sûrement préféré un clavecin français ou, mieux - pour faire sensation dans les salons - adopté un forte-piano de Taskin (tel celui au Trianon !!) ! Mille merci pour cette exhumation.
La plupart des gens aiment entendre Mozart jouer avec un piano, je peux l'imaginer. Je n'ai pas grand-chose avec cette musique qui peut être jouée avec pianoforte ou clavecin. Mais, j'ai compris qu'en Amérique, cela devait être un album très important dans cet esprit de l'époque. N'est-ce pas génial que nous puissions maintenant en prendre note en Europe ?
Cela dit sans vous offenser, je connaissais cet enregistrement depuis plus de trente ans ! Il avait donc déjà traversé l'Atlantique ! La tendance du public à préférer le piano au clavecin est la règle, en France. Y compris pour les compositeurs les plus inadaptés comme Scarlatti ou Rameau. Fi de l'incongruité du résultat ! Voyez les couronnes aureolant A. Taraud pour son Rameau... Il est assez déroutant de relever qu'alors que le clavecin régna en maître en France plus longtemps qu'ailleurs - sans doute du fait de l'excellence de ses facteurs, il succomba avec l'Ancien Régime... étonnant parallèle, son renouveau fut encore plus bref que la Restauration! Tout, après le départ de Landowska s'est, en effet, passé en Amérique, avec les Kipnis, Malcom et autres Marlowe ... voire S. Ross. Bref, heureusement que vous êtes là pour démontrer qu'il y a encore des français qui s'intéressent aux clavecins. Et même à ceux de la pire espèce ! N'y voyez pas critique - j'appartiens au clubs ( j'ai un Sassmann chez moi et des moins avouables : 4 jeux + luth sur les deux 8' ET sur le 16 ' - un monstre musical, quoi).
@@francisgarnier308 Je ne suis pas tout à fait d'accord avec toi. Il y avait aussi des musiciens très importants en Europe: Kenneth Gilbert, Rafael Puyana, Gustav Leonhardt, Rolf Junghanns, Trevor Pinnock, Colin Tilney, János Sebestyén, Ruggero Gerlin, Luciano Smizzii etc. Mais ils étaient deux mondes parallèles avec peu d'interaction dans ma perception. Remarque que le Kipnis-LP a été distribué en France!
*_Interview with Igor Kipnis magazine The Harpsichord (US) May-July 1969 3/5_* HARPSICHORD: Have you experienced any difficulties with either weather conditions or customs? KIPNIS: "I've had very, very few difficulties with weather conditions, temperature or anything. This is mainly because the instrument itself is very, very stable. I do have to make sure that I arrive for a concert no less than five hours before the concert and preferably I like to arrive the day ahead. That means I can get the instrument in the hall. Once the instrument is in place, I can go to a movie, have a leisurely dinner and be on my own. Also, the instrument has a chance to settle. I find in general, no matter what the temperature, the instrument must adjust to the new surroundings. And sometimes it takes a little longer than at other times. I remember once in Minneapolis, the harpsichord was outside in the station wagon all night with the temperature at 14 below zero! It was a very scary situation. However, the next day, the instrument was just fine. In fact, it was in good enough tune that I was able to practice. Of course it was necessary for me to tune before the concert. "While in Europe, I was a little apprehensive about the problem of riding with the instrument across various borders. And I did have a few heart arresting experiences. One was when I went from England to Holland. The customs people looked at the instrument and then at me. I don't think that they entirely knew what it was. I had a piece of paper which was supplied by my manager in Amsterdam. They looked at the paper and that only made things worse. Finally, I found out (after having been detained there for about half an hour) that I didn't really need the paper, so they tore it up in front of my eyes. Good Lord, I thought. What if I needed the paper later to get out of the country? But nothing happened. I was not questioned again. There was another time when I was crossing from Austria into Germany. I was stopped by the guard who peered in the windows of my station wagon. He didn't say a thing about the harpsichord. He looked at the license plate and then informed me that the number of my registration card was not the same as the license plate number. Well, of course not! The license plate number is not the same as the vehicle identification number. That took another five minutes. I discovered that they were very fussy at the Swiss-French border. Had I not had a piece of paper showing that I played on a Swiss radio station, I would not have been able to get out. Of course this is just one of the problems of the harpsichordist. I think that there are a lot of people who are fascinated by the harpsichord and decided to obtain an instrument for themselves . . . then find there are problems. One of these problems is learning how to tune it. They don't stop to think about that. They think first of what a wonderful sound it is. One must learn to tune, or you must buy an electrical gadget or something of the sort. There are many different ways. Rather more difficult is sitting down at the instrument and learning how to make the thing sound. That is not easy. I think the most important thing in learning to play the harpsichord is getting the instrument to sing. This takes keyboard control and it requires a lot of hard work. There is no cure-all to this. It is helpful to listen to many different harpsichordists and hear the different ways in which harpsichordists play. And they are all very different from each other. Pay as little attention as possible to sound effects . .. to changes in registration. That's the floss .. . the color of the car. The important thing is what makes the engine run. HARPSICHORD: What are your concepts of programming? KIPNIS: I was taught a long time ago by Thurston Dart who looked at my first recital program. I remember that I wanted to play a Toccata. He said that the one I selected was a great piece but it should not be the first piece one puts on a program. The first piece is a 'throwaway' piece. You have to get limbered up a bit. Secondly, and very important, the audience has to get used to the harpsichord sound. It makes no difference whether the audience is harpsichord conscious or not. You can throwaway your first five, six or seven minutes. Then you can build. I like to contrast very much. There is nothing wrong with playing an all English program. I've done that quite a lot, but you have to jump around a little bit. Audiences are not specialists. Specialists can take a whole evening, for example, of Elizabethan music. I would love it. But most audiences will get much more out of both the instrument and the music if you jump around a little. My own tastes are, I think, fairly wide. I play wide range of music, including contemporary music. I also like to stretch the harpsichord as far as it will go. To play up until the end of the 18th century is treading on slightly dangerous ground I know. Some people will say that one never plays Mozart on the harpsichord. This is, I think, sort of a hindsight angle. Mozart certainly played the harpsichord. He also played the clavichord a great deal. In fact, a lot of Mozart sounds extremely well on the clavichord. Much better than on the harpsichord. The point is, does the music sound? Is it effective on the harpsichord? Can you make it do what it is supposed to do? If the answer is negative, then you leave it alone! I've just recorded a harpsichord concerto of Mozart's, the E flat, K271. Everyone I've mentioned that to says that it was a piano concerto. In a way, they are right, because everybody today plays it on the piano. I claim that, from an historical standpoint, it was commissioned for a French keyboard player. This was one of the few Mozart commissions. The harpsichord lasted the longest in France. The French lady who commissioned the work was obviously a harpsichordist. There was no question about that. She was a traveling virtuoso, but other than that we don't know too much about her. She asked Mozart for a concerto and he wrote a piece which is not too far different from the concertos he was writing for a different instrument. I think there is too much of a tendency any way to separate the idea of the Forte piano and harpsichord. They were very close. I decided that the Mozart E flat concerto was for the harpsichord. It sounds very well on the harpsichord so I play it on the harpsichord. In addition to the recording I will play it three times with orchestra. One of those performances will be in London.
*_Interview with Igor Kipnis magazine The Harpsichord (US) May-July 1969 5/5_* HARPSICHORD: Are you generally satisfied with what comes off the record and, how much editing is done on your recordings? KIPNIS: To get at the first question, in general I am quite satisfied with the way they have recorded me. There is a tendency on the part of most record companies to press a rather loud record and over modulate. This is nothing you can blame on anyone person or one recording company. They all seem to do it. However, with certain types of playback systems, it does not sound too badly, that is if you don't play it at the volume level of a Bruchner symphony. And many people do. The corollary of that is that people hearing a harpsichord live in a hall for the first time are very disappointed. They have been hearing it in their living rooms at a colossal volume, then they hear this tiny little sound peeking out from a silly little instrument on the stage, which looks, to them, like an outdated piano and they wonder what's it all about. I have tried to circumvent this from happening, but it's entirely up to the person playing the records. You can't stand over them. You can put all kinds of instructions on the jacket but no one pays any attention to that. If harpsichord recordings are played at a loud volume, clavichord recordings are ridiculous! I knew that to get a distinction between the levels of the harpsichord and clavichord that I had to work out some sort of artificial means of doing it. When the record companies combine both instruments on the same record, they go by the general highest volume of both instruments. I then, start off with a harpsichord number which gives the home listener an opportunity to set the volume at the level he enjoys. Then, in relation to that, when the clavichord is introduced later, the volume is much lower. This helps some, but it is a very knotty kind of problem. I don't know what can be done about it except to train the listener and have the listener exposed to live harpsichord music. "Another problem in recording involves the recording engineers. Often they will record much too close to the instrument. They have a good bit to learn in this respect. Of course, the public is much more aware of harpsichords today than they have been for a long, long time. Part of the reason is the use of the harpsichord in other than classical situations. The motion picture now uses the harpsichord freely. Tom Jones is an excellent example. Even I have played harpsichord for the films. I did the soundtrack for 'Hallelujah, the Hills'. You can't listen to an hour of commercials without running into the harpsichord two, three or four times. People may not always be aware that it is a harpsichord, but they remember and recognize the sound. There are many people performing on the harpsichord nowadays and many more owning harpsichords. There are also a staggering number of harpsichord builders. I don't mean just the kit builders, but professional builders. And harpsichord recordings are appearing in ever-growing numbers. In the New York Musicians Union book there are between thirty and thirty-five harpsichords listed! " In the early days of Landowska's career, to play the harpsichord was a very strange thing to do. I think even when Kirkpatrick started in the early thirties, perhaps even in the forties, that this was considered an unusual instrument. And now, while they may not have heard the instrument in person, they do recognize what it is. And age is of no importance. Young people take to it immediately. My son, who is five, thinks that there are only harpsichords. He knows that there are such things as pianos, but these are some strange instruments. As far as he is concerned there should be a harpsichord in every home. And I agree with him! HARPSICHORD: You own both a clavichord and a harpsichord. Have you any preference? KIPNIS: I think I prefer them each to themselves. There are quite a few pieces which can be played quite effectively on either one. The best example of this is the Well-Tempered. There is an Adagio in G which I recorded as part of the Bach harpsichord- clavichord album and this, to me, is definitely a clavichord piece. You may play the notes on a harpsichord but you can't get the nuances. I started with harpsichord and later decided that it would be very nice to have a clavichord so I could play at home when the harpsichord was downstairs in -the car. 1n other words, I felt it would be a good practice instrument. Also, I knew from all the reading I had done that this was an exceptional instrument for training the fingers. And it has certainly been good training. However, I find it less good as a practice instrument if used as a substitute for the harpsichord. I have always said that playing the harpsichord is like playing on an uncooked egg as far as the finger action is concerned. You can not hit it heavily. You must treat is with care. With the clavichord, it is like playing on the same uncooked egg, but with the shell off and only a thin membrane between you and a mess! Approach the instruments with that mental picture in mind. If you work at it and have any natural talent at all you will, in time, feel at home with both instruments. From there you can go as far as you want to go. Igor Kipnis
*_Interview with Igor Kipnis magazine The Harpsichord (US) May-July 1969 4/5_* HARPSICHORD: This brings us to the subject of old versus new instruments. Do you prefer a harpsichord based on the early instrument or do you like the modern registers which are now available? KIPNIS: This is a very difficult question to answer because you always offend somebody no matter how you try to answer it. From a per- forming standpoint, if you are going to be playing only the music written for harpsichord before 1750, in most cases, you can do very nicely on a small one-stringed instrument. There are a few, of course, which require two manuals; Couperin, Bach, the Italian Concerto and pieces of that sort. For the ]larger instrument, I think three sets of strings will do very nicely with hand stops. In a way this is very good, at least you know what you can do and what you can't do. The whole modern concept of harpsichord registration is something we have to lay at Landowska's door- step. It is very bad and it gives young people the wrong impression of what harpsichords are all about. As many tone colors as possible is not the be-all and end-all of harpsichords. You should be able to affect what you have to affect mostly, if not exclusively, through the fingers. "When it comes down to pedals, you have machine stops toward the end of the 18th century which get fancier and more complicated. I had a chance to try Haydn's harpsichord in Vienna when I was there last fall. That has many effects on it. This is a big instrument and it has the Venetian Swell. It was fun to play and also, to my great surprise, to learn what you can achieve by means of the pedals. Getting one register out of the way and throwing in another one can be negotiated very easily and with different effects. So, toward the end of the century, a lot more was possible. Because of this, I wouldn't say to throw out the pedals and only have hand stops unless you only wanted to play music which was written before the machine stops. I think it is very important for a professional harpsichordist not to restrict himself simply to music of an earlier day. It makes for better programming. In addition, I think it is somewhat of a duty to play at least some contemporary compositions assuming that the artist likes it and feels he can do something with it. Then, one must have an instrument which is capable of al1 kinds of register shifts. So you really do need the pedals. "What I think is sad, is to use 'he very elaborate registrations and elaborate registration changes on early music which was obviously quite impossible at the time, the music was Written. You are very much on your own. Do you want to be a purist about this or do you want to be somebody who is very much a modernist and anything goes? You take your pIck. HARPSICHORD: Do you select the numbers you record or does the recording company select numbers for you? KIPNIS: In a few cases the recording company does request certain numbers. I have been very fortunate with C.B.S. in that I have had whole choice on all the numbers I have played. The whole idea of the so called 'country' series that I have been doing came about really by accident. I received a contract from them to make a minimum of one record a year in 1964 which came just as I was on my way to Tanglewood for my first summer's teaching there. It was a question of what was I going to put together for 'a record which had to be done in a rush. It turned out to be an all French program. From then on, it was quite easy in trying to figure out what other countries could be involved. And, of course, there is always a volume two of the ones I have already done. There was the French one, English, Italian, Spanish, German and also in the ice box in an Austrian program with both harpsichord and clavichord. One suggestion they had was for a 'pot-boiler' album. This was something I didn't particularly care for. Everybody plays the Turkish Rondo, you name it. Everybody plays all the pop pieces. But the more I thought about it, I realized that it might be fun to do. So I recorded that last spring. I had 20 pieces ranging from the Elizabethan school, including even a version of Green Sleeves up to the Beethoven: Minuet in G.
I recommend music lovers read the article by Michael Lorenz titled "The Continuing "Jeunehomme" Nonsense." Following is probably the most relevant statement regarding the name this concerto has been given: 'No "Miss Jeunehomme" ever existed, the name being a deliberate early twentieth-century invention. The nickname of Mozart's piano concerto K. 271 has been corrected to "Jenamy" since my discovery in 2004 of the identity of the person for whom Mozart wrote it.' Perhaps the exact name isn't so important. Nevertheless musicology nerds such as myself love learning about such historical details and solutions to mysteries.
Thank you, Dana Winsor for putting the name of Mozarts concerto from the proper perspective of what we know today. That is well appreciated and good to know. However, please consider that this recording and its original documentation was produced in 1969, some 54 years ago, but corrections are of course always more than welcome.
![W. A. Mozart - Sonata for 2 Pianos in D major K. 448 (375a) - Levin & Frager [Period Instruments]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/XiHZsreNqfg/mqdefault.jpg)
*_Judith Robison wrote as documentation 1/2_*
From 1760 to 1790, far-reaching and rapid changes
took place in the European musical world. New tastes
and styles coincided and competed with old ones, the
small, intimate drawing-room recital expanded into larger
concerts, and instruments, began to change their tone and
character through new mechanical inventions. Esthetically,
the period was one of intense concern for delicate
shades of emotion, expressed musically by modulations
of piano-forte and a cantabile style of phrasing. These
had always been the characteristics of clavichord playing,
the soft-toned instrument that J. 5. Bach had regarded as
the best tutor for the keyboard performer, and the second
half of the 18th century in Germany and Austria saw an
upsurge of interest in the clavichord, as well as great enthusiasm
for the new forte piano.
With our 20th-century habit of dividing history into
neat categories, we tend to imagine the piano as springing
full-blown from the head of Zeus into 18th-century
salons, pushing the older harpsichord unceremoniously
out the door, and invincibly coopting the imaginations of
contemporary composers. Yet Mozart did not buy his
first forte piano until shortly before 1784, when he was
28, and Haydn, being older and more conservative, did
not get his until 1788, when he was 56. During the 70s,
it had become fashionable for well-to-do music lovers to
own forte pianos, and both composers, especially Mozart,
had often played the instrument when invited to perform,
but its entry into musical life was gradual.
Mozart (1756-1791) was equally intrigued and frustrated
by the early forte piano, which he considered a
bigger and better version of the clavichord. Until he
visited Andreas Stein's workshop, in October 1777, he
had not found any make of piano that was mechanically
up to playing his compositions. The instrument was still
in its childhood, and problems such as inadequate damping,
uneven regulation, blocking by the hammers, and a
workable sustaining pedal were taxing makers' ingenuity.
As solutions to these problems progressed, Mozart turned
more and more toward the forte piano as his favorite
keyboard instrument.
In his childhood and adolescence, Mozart was famous
as a harpsichordist and clavichordist, and he continued
to perform publicly on these instruments until the early
1780s, when he started carrying his own Walter forte piano
around with him. He was also skilled on the organ.
His earlier keyboard works show a mixture of the styles
of both harpsichord and clavichord, and he played his
music on either, depending on the circumstances. He was
as fussy about the mechanical condition of his harpsichords
as he was about the forte pianos: they should be
large instruments with a variety of timbre and contrasts,
in perfect regulation, and preferably with a machine stop
to control the volume by automatically changing registers.
These big harpsichords, although more brilliant,
were equivalent in loudness to the 18th-century forte pianos,
which, it must be remembered, bore little resemblance
to our :modern pianos. Mozart's sister Nannerl,
who never took up the forte piano, refused to perform if
she felt that the proffered harpsichord was in any way
defficient.
Thank you! 🌺
ENFIN! Le VRAI son authentique des concertos de MOZART tels qu'il les a conçus et joués!
On attend avec impatience les superbes n°18, 20, 21, 22, etc..... Merci à vous et tous nos encouragements!
I bought this record around 1970. I remember the notes telling me that this concerto was written for a young player who was basically a harpsichordist. Great to hear a fine player reminding us that the harpsichord did and does exist! If anyone can tell me (a harpsichordist) why it has almost dropped from broadcasters' lists, I would be grateful.
Good point, I remember in my youth there was a harpsichord recital every month here in Amsterdam, but the last 30 years it seems that the instruments has vanished.
This piece is such a magnificent little gem of the repertoire. Mozart was a "kid" when he wrote this (20/21) at least from today's perspective (perhaps not by Mozart's). The piece is fun, to listen to certainly, and I'm guessing to play as well. Thank you Harpsichord Vinyl Gallery (whoever you are, lol).
Mozart's early to mid period keyboard music sounds blissfully charming on the harpsichord....
Very professionally produced videos with great sound. ♭ Thanks!
This is the very recording I had mentioned earlier today in my comment on the Kipnis recording of Bach. I had been familiar with the Haydn concerto, but not the Mozart, and when I finally did listen to it, I felt my life had changed. It is deeper and more interesting than the Haydn, and more sophisticated in the keyboard writing, and so on. I became life-long fan of Mozart thanks to this recording, and still have it on my shelf today.
It becomes apparent to me from the comments, that this was a very important recording. However, in Europe I have never seen it at all. Distribution of vinyl recordings from Northern America failed in the age before the CD was introduced (1983/4).
@@HarpsichordVinylGallery How did you get a copy? Finding a clean copy in the U.S. is difficult.
@@fnd111 A friend in America had a very good copy and on top he cleaned it up manually, removing all the clicks and pops.
@@fnd111 I contacted the one who had sent me his copy:
"I got my copy at Discogs. There are still many copies for sale, some of them still sealed:www.discogs.com/sell/release/5083563 "
@@HarpsichordVinylGallery This recording was my introduction to Mozart’s pre-#20 (late) concertos and Haydn’s keyboard works (concertos or sonatas), in the early 1970s. I was immediately struck by the naturalness with which the harpsichord meshed with the simple strings+pair of oboes and horns textures of Mozart’s and Haydn’s works.
Piquant textures, rythmically alert articulation that make most piano performances sound just a tad too soft and sweet. I’ve listened to dozens of performances of these works on piano/fortepiano and while most are perfectly good, none give this tangible taste of sour cream and paprika that made me smile goofily when I was 17. While the Kipnis/Marriner’s recording of the JS Bach concerti is available, the Mozart/Haydn never made it to CD. Why, oh why ? 😩 .
OMG, I never realized this concerto had been recorded on harpsichord! Thank you for posting this wonderful recording!
In the interview with the magazine The Harpsichord (1969) Igor Kipnis said:
"I think there is too much of
a tendency any way to separate the
idea of the fortepiano and harpsichord.
They were very close. I decided
that the Mozart E flat concerto
was for the harpsichord. It sounds
very well on the harpsichord, so I play
it on the harpsichord. In addition to
the recording I will play it three times
with orchestra. One of those performances
will be in London."
@@HarpsichordVinylGallery Indeed. And even right up to Beethoven's early keyboard sonatas, it was common for his keyboard works to be published as being for both harpsichord or fortepiano... including Beethoven's well known Moonlight sonata. The later dominance of the fortepiano over the harpsichord was a very gradual process during the latter 18th century
@@clavichord I heard from Robert Tifft, the person who made this recording available, that there was another release on the harpsichord by Siegbert Rampe from the early 1990s on the Intercord label
@@HarpsichordVinylGallery Hi David, I thought I sent you the sealed recording of these concertos. You were kind enough to transfer it to CD and post it to me. If you don't actually need my copy of the LP which gifted to you in order to upload to YT, I would like to have it back. Thank you.
@@PeterBrownlee-m1i Hi Peter Brownlee. I guess you are mistaken. HarpsichordVinylGallery at TH-cam is a collaboration between some friends (Daniël Beuman, Robert Tifft and me) and I guess you might refer to David Kelzenberg with 'David'? It might have been that 'David' had sent you a message with a link of the Mozart-performance at TH-cam?
All the hard labour of transferring the Mozart-vinyl by Kipnis, scanning the documentation and providing the interview with Kipnis from The Harpsichord, was done by Robert Tifft and David has nothing to do with the TH-cam-performance. I guess you should ask David in a personal mail to return the vinyl.
Somehow I missed this lp. After hearing it here, I immediately bought it. Kipnis & Marriner were a wonderful partnership, as we know from their Bach concertos, so I wasn't surprised to find they were hand-in-glove here. The engineer did an excellent job balancing the hc with the orchestra, which was often not the case when this lp was made. Thanks for this superb post.
Thank you for your positive reaction. That helps to post some more recordings never released as CD in the future.
*_Interview with Igor Kipnis magazine The Harpsichord (US) May-July 1969 2/5_*
A kind Westminster engineer consented
to do the taping at my home
since WNYC was not going to pay for
transporting my harpsichord to the
studios.
"One fine day, in the middle of
winter, we taped a half an hour show.
We rolled up the rugs, turned off the
heater because of the knocking which
was prevalent at that time, and in
that colossal chill, I started in. That
first effort was broadcast in 1959 and
that could be called my official debut.
"Then one thing led to another.
A few people had heard the broadcast
and commented on it. I got to
play the Fifth Brandenburg with the
Greenwich Village Symphony and
that was my live debut.
"I was still doing many other
things. I worked for a chain of F.M.
stations and somehow the boat really
sank with that company. Actually, I
should precede that with the fact
that Westminster went bankrupt also,
but that was two months after I left
so that had nothing to do with me.
The chain of F.M. stations wanted
me to go to Washington state and I
told them that that was ridiculous, or
words to that effect. I was doing more
and more playing in New York and as
much as I like Washington, New York
was the center of all my activities. So
I found myself without a job.
What was I to do? Try to find
a regular job, or go freelance?
I decided to go freelance.
I started writing record reviews
for Hi-Fi/Stereo, which I still do.
I also started writing concert reviews
for the now defunct New York Herald
Tribune. I was there for a year
when suddenly I found myself being
reviewed in print by other people who
reviewed my live concerts. Summer
came and went, the usual dry season
and when Fall arrived and musical
activity started again, no one said anything
to me about doing reviews again.
I began to wonder what was wrong, especially
since I noticed that some of
my other colleagues were starting in
with the regular Fall season. I asked
the Music Editor what was wrong.
He told me that 'the people upstairs'
noticed that my name was appearing
in reviews as well as at the end of reviews.
Not at the same time, of course,
but they wanted to know whether I
was playing or reviewing. I thought I
had been doing a little bit of both,
but they didn't care for that, and I
had to quit. This wasn't really serious
since I did a lot of hack work writing
program notes, jacket notes for records
and things of that sort.
At this point I took another
good look at my situation. I had given
some thoughts about becoming a
professional for I had already made
some recordings, although not solo.
"In January 1962 I made my
recital debut. At the same time, I got
my first contract with a small record
company called Golden Press which
was a God-send. The one thing I
think necessary today, if you plan to
make any kind of career on any instrument,
whether you are playing
harpsichord or the kazoo, you have to
have records. Without them, you don't
stand a chance. Here I was given an
opportunity to make two solo records.
I think I was a little out of my mind
at the time, but I didn't know any
better. I made two records in the
space of two days. Each record was
about forty minutes of music. One
was an all Bach collection. The other
was a Handel Fifth Suite, the Soler
Fandango, some Bach and a number
by Dussek: The Sufferings of the
Queen of France, which is a piece
I dug up. It is a great programmatic
thing, if not particularly great piece
of music. It took them two years to
release the records. They kept saying
business was bad. Business is always
bad in the record world. There doesn't
ever seem to be a good time of year
. . . unless of course you have the
field cornered.
I was doing more and more
continuo work both on records and
live performances. I now had a manager
and things have been going up
ever since.
A year ago I went to Europe
for the first time. I received a Martha
Beard Rockefeller Grant because going
to Europe is expensive, even if
you are just going by yourself for fun.
If you want to take a harpsichord
along with you, it becomes even more
expensive. I decided I would really
prefer playing on my own instrument
so I took it over to Europe by boat,
in my own car and then rode all
around Europe.
THE HARPSICHORD: This is
rather unique. Most harpsichordists
usually use the instrument which is
available.
KIPNIS : There is a choice
that I think every harpsichordist must
make if he wants to play the instrument
at all. He can play whatever
happens to be around, in which case
he's subject to whatever condition
that instrument is in ... and some of
them are pretty impossible. Or he
can carry his own instrument. I think
there is another problem. There are
some people who adapt very easily to
all kinds of instruments. They can
play the piano and a minute later play
the harpsichord and a minute later
play the clavichord. Some people have
that sort of technique. I'm not entirely
sure whether they sound well on all
three, or four, or five or whatever
it is, but they are able to adapt themselves
very easily. There are others,
rather more like myself, who will find
themselves a little uncomfortable with
an instrument alien \0 them, and I
even think with the same make instrument
but with a different disposition.
This can throw you very easily.
"There is one other solution. You
can ship your instrument by railway
express, air, truck or some such transportation.
However, the problem
there is that sometimes the instrument
does not arrive on time. I've heard
all sorts of horror stories from professional
harpsichordists about their
instruments not arriving on time.
They finally wind up doing the recital
on the piano! This has happened more
often than any of us would like to
believe.
"I have a very good instrument,
one built by Rutkowski and Robinette,
and I prefer taking it around. I
know what the instrument does. Recitals
in general, are not easy to play.
That includes any instrument or voice.
There are always problems with new
halls and new audiences. So at least
if you have one thing that is common
to all of these . . . namely the instrument
. . . that's one advantage.
*_Judith Robison wrote as documentation 2/2_*
The Concerto in E Flat, K. 271, was written in January,
1777, on commission for a French harpsichordist,
Mademoiselle Jeunehomme, who had probably come to
Salzburg on tour toward the end of 1776. Mademoiselle
Jeunehomme was billed as a claviciniste (harpsichordist),
and she was probably not very familiar with the forte piano,
as the Parisians were not only very conservative
musically but had few pianos, small-sized English imports
in a few rich homes. The autograph of the work is headed
Concerto per il Clavicembalo ..- .-. One cannot say, however,
that Mozart specifically intended to write a "harpsichord"
concerto, any more than he intended to write a
"Forte piano" concerto. He wrote a concerto for a keyboard
instrument. He himself played it on a "wretched"
piano in Munich in October 1777, and his sister played
it on the harpsichord in Salzburg in January 1778.
The concerto is in three movements: Allegro; a meditative
cantabile Andantino; and a Rondeau, presto, with
a Minuet as middle section. Mozart prepared the score
very carefully, as he intended to publish it, along with
K. 238 and K. 246-concerti written in 1776, in Paris
when he was there for six months in 1778. He provided
his own cadenzas for the first and second movements, as
well as two sets of cadenzas for the third. The score also
includes a figured bass, indicating a continuo, for which
a separate harpsichord has been used in this recording.
The composer also added phrase markings and filled in
all the lead ins, short, nonthematic improvisations linking
sections of a movement. Unfortunately, the publishing
plans came to nothing.
Franz Josef Haydn (1732-1809) was twenty-four years
Mozart's senior. As an artist, he had matured much more
slowly and had been fortunate in being able to settle
down in 1761 to the steady position of court composer
and Kapellmeister to Prince Paul Anton Esterhazy and his
successor Prince Nicolaus. Haydn loved the musical life
of Vienna, but unfortunately Prince Nicolaus was of a
solitary disposition and retired with his court to his
country palace, Esterhaza, in Hungary for · longer and
longer periods. Haydn was musical jack-of-all-trades at
the court. He not only composed the music, he trained
the chorus and soloists, coached the instrumentalists, saw
that they were properly dressed, copied out all the parts,
and directed the whole ensemble from the harpsichord.
Although the Concerto in D Major, Hob. XVIII, No. 11,
was listed in the Breitkopf Catalogue of 1782/ 84 as a
Cembalo, the Viennese firm of Artaria published it in
1784 with the title per il clavicembalo ó fortepiano. It is
usually known as Concerto No. 1, Op. 21, although
Haydn had written a number of earlier chamber concerti
for harpsichord or organ. Composed c. 1782, it is a
bravura work, eminently suited to the harpsichord, in
three movements: Vivace; Un poco adagio; and a rustic
Rondo all'Ungherese: Allegro assai. Unlike Mozart in
his E flat concerto, Haydn left considerable room for the
performer to embellish and acid lead ins. The cadenzas
in the first and second movements were composed in the
18th century and are attributed to Haydn himself. As
with other concerti of the period, the bass is figured, requiring
a continuo, played here by a second harpsichord,
which adds immeasurably to the spiciness of the work.
-Judith Robison
*_Interview with Igor Kipnis magazine The Harpsichord (US) May-July 1969 1/5_*
Igor Kipnis is one of the most widely recognized harpsichordists appearing today. His recitals are anxiously awaited by music lovers on many continents. He has recorded for eight recording companies, working with such notables as Leopold Stokowski, Neville Marriner and Seiji Ozawa. He recorded an album of scatological canons and songs with the chorus directed by Norman Luboff called Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is a Dirty Old Man." Igor Kipnis is the son of the famous Metropolitan Opera basso, Alexander Kipnis. He received his first piano lessons from his grandfather, Chicago composer and pianist Heniot Levy. He has appeared with many leading symphony orchestras, working with such distinguished conductors as Erich Leinsdorf, Charles Munch and Alfred Wallenstein. He is currently engaged in a project for Records featuring the harpsichord music of various countries. During the summer he serves as Chairman of the Baroque Department at the Berkshire Music Festival (Tanglewood.) He is a contributing editor and reviewer for Hi-Fi/Stereo Review and serves as host for his own radio program "The Age of Baroque" broadcast weekly over the New York Times Station W.Q.x.R. He is a charter member of ISHB. ~ This conversation took place late one afternoon in his Greenwich Village apartment which is shared by his young family, an active cat and a beautiful harpsichord and clavichord built by Rutkowski and Robinette of New York. Mr. Kipnis has just been asked how he developed his interest in harpsichords.
KIPNIS: "I have always been a record collector. Even as a youngster I had a fair collection of keyboard disks in general. Most of them are still with me as you can see. I have always been very fond of piano music.
Back during the early 40's I was study-
ing piano without any intent of be-
coming professional, but it was some-
thing I rather enjoyed. My uncle gave
me my first harpsichord records. They
were Victor recordings of Landows-
ska's Goldberg variations. This was
really my first taste of the harpsichord.
I was not particularly struck with it
yet, on the other hand, I listened to
it and gradually I became more famil-
iar with the music and my interest in
it increased.
"Later, in college, I was involved
to a great extent with musical af-
fairs. I didn't major in music although
I started out that way. In my last year
my wife-to-be and I were taking a
course under Randall Thompson
called 'The Age of Handel' which was
a very stimulating course. We had
various projects to do and we asked
if we could play some of the Fitzwil-
liam Sonatas. My wife played the re-
corder and I 'fiddled' at the piano so
we thought that here was a good
chance to try a harpsichord.
"The Harvard Music Department
had a Chickering which was built by
Dolmetsch in the very early part of
this century. It was in wretched con-
dition but at least some of it was
playable. That was my first introduc-
tion to a real-live harpsichord.
"I received special permission to
use it for our class and we performed
a couple of the Fitzwilliam Sonatas.
Incidentally, they were edited by
Thurston Dart. Later, Dart was to
become a very great influence on me
although I didn't know it at that time.
"After that, I went into the Army,
came out, looked around for work
and did a number of very curious
things. I sold hooks and records for
Doubleday, worked for Radio WMCA
a pop music station and worked for
Westminster Records for four and a
half years as Art and Editorial Di-
rector. It was there that I first met
Valenti. Valenti has always been very
friendly and this was my first relation
with a real, live harpsichordist. I
went to some of his recording sessions
and enjoyed them very much. It Was
then that I thought that it would be
very nice if my wife and I could have
a harpsichord rather than a piano. AI
that time we didn't have a keyboard
instrument around.
In 1956 my parents went to
Europe and they asked me just before
they left if there was anything I would
like for them to bring back with
them.
"I said; 'Yes, a harpsichord!'
"We all had a very good laugh
about that, for they thought I was
completely out of my mind. They did
not come back with a harpsichord, I
must say, but they did come back with
a number of catalogs. My father
thought I really should have some
sort of a keyboard instrument to
keep me happy after work. In other
words, television was not quite
enough.
We looked at the catalogs and
finally decided on a two manual Sperrhake.
That arrived about nine months
later and was my first harpsichord.
"1 started fooling around with it
purely for my own pleasure and began
to practice quite hard, but again,
with nothing in mind for a profession.
"One of the jobs that I had at
Westminster, (which was a self-imposed
job,) was to promote Westminster
records on the radio stations
in New York City by taking some of
the programming personnel out to
lunch. The fellow from WNYC knew
that I played the harpsichord, but
that this was only in the privacy of
the home. Sometimes we would have
a few professionals drop by but it
was more a free jam session type
of thing. He suggested that I might be
interested in doing a program.
I thought this over and decided that it
would be an interesting thing to do.
Harpsichord Vinyl Gallery, thank you for another delightful recording. The Harpsichord, a Rutkowski & Robinette is a very interesting instrument indeed since it was a revival harpsichord with some historical harpsichord guidelines involved with the construction. Certainly less beefy as it was the reality of the Wittmayers or Neuperts from the same period. Plus, Igor Kipnis preforming what a bonus! 😊
I am glad you like it. Personally, Haydn and Mozart is a bridge too far for me, although I like the sound of his famous Rutkowski & Robinette.
@@HarpsichordVinylGallery I agree it is a lovely sounding instrument. Like it was in transition from the revival instruments to the historically correct harpsichords that we have today.
Merci à M. Harpsichord Vinyl Gallery d'avoir mis à disposition cet enregistrement que j'attendais depuis bien longtemps ...
Ce concerto est habituellement joué au piano, mais en 1777, le pianoforte était loin de s'être imposé en France; Voltaire ne s'était d'ailleurs pas privé de le traiter "d'instrument de charbonnier" ! L'instrument américain joué par I. Kipnis est-il le meilleur choix : faible , dépourvu de basses, timbre aigrelet... ? Mademoiselle Jeunehomme aurait sûrement préféré un clavecin français ou, mieux - pour faire sensation dans les salons - adopté un forte-piano de Taskin (tel celui au Trianon !!) !
Mille merci pour cette exhumation.
La plupart des gens aiment entendre Mozart jouer avec un piano, je peux l'imaginer. Je n'ai pas grand-chose avec cette musique qui peut être jouée avec pianoforte ou clavecin. Mais, j'ai compris qu'en Amérique, cela devait être un album très important dans cet esprit de l'époque. N'est-ce pas génial que nous puissions maintenant en prendre note en Europe ?
Cela dit sans vous offenser, je connaissais cet enregistrement depuis plus de trente ans ! Il avait donc déjà traversé l'Atlantique ! La tendance du public à préférer le piano au clavecin est la règle, en France. Y compris pour les compositeurs les plus inadaptés comme Scarlatti ou Rameau. Fi de l'incongruité du résultat ! Voyez les couronnes aureolant A. Taraud pour son Rameau...
Il est assez déroutant de relever qu'alors que le clavecin régna en maître en France plus longtemps qu'ailleurs - sans doute du fait de l'excellence de ses facteurs, il succomba avec l'Ancien Régime... étonnant parallèle, son renouveau fut encore plus bref que la Restauration! Tout, après le départ de Landowska s'est, en effet, passé en Amérique, avec les Kipnis, Malcom et autres Marlowe ... voire S. Ross.
Bref, heureusement que vous êtes là pour démontrer qu'il y a encore des français qui s'intéressent aux clavecins.
Et même à ceux de la pire espèce !
N'y voyez pas critique - j'appartiens au clubs ( j'ai un Sassmann chez moi et des moins avouables : 4 jeux + luth sur les deux 8' ET sur le 16 ' - un monstre musical, quoi).
Addenda. Notez que je vous avais adressé des remerciements appuyés pour avoir mis à disposition cet enregistrement mémorable...
@@francisgarnier308 Je ne suis pas tout à fait d'accord avec toi. Il y avait aussi des musiciens très importants en Europe: Kenneth Gilbert, Rafael Puyana, Gustav Leonhardt, Rolf Junghanns, Trevor Pinnock, Colin Tilney, János Sebestyén, Ruggero Gerlin, Luciano Smizzii etc. Mais ils étaient deux mondes parallèles avec peu d'interaction dans ma perception.
Remarque que le Kipnis-LP a été distribué en France!
@@francisgarnier308 Tout le travail a été presque fait par Robert Tifft.
C'était peu de travail pour moi
*_Interview with Igor Kipnis magazine The Harpsichord (US) May-July 1969 3/5_*
HARPSICHORD: Have you experienced
any difficulties with either
weather conditions or customs?
KIPNIS: "I've had very, very
few difficulties with weather conditions,
temperature or anything. This
is mainly because the instrument itself
is very, very stable. I do have to
make sure that I arrive for a concert
no less than five hours before the
concert and preferably I like to arrive
the day ahead. That means I
can get the instrument in the hall.
Once the instrument is in place, I
can go to a movie, have a leisurely
dinner and be on my own. Also, the
instrument has a chance to settle. I
find in general, no matter what the
temperature, the instrument must adjust
to the new surroundings. And
sometimes it takes a little longer than
at other times. I remember once in
Minneapolis, the harpsichord was outside
in the station wagon all night
with the temperature at 14 below zero!
It was a very scary situation. However,
the next day, the instrument was
just fine. In fact, it was in good enough
tune that I was able to practice. Of
course it was necessary for me to
tune before the concert.
"While in Europe, I was a little
apprehensive about the problem of
riding with the instrument across various
borders. And I did have a few
heart arresting experiences. One was
when I went from England to Holland.
The customs people looked at
the instrument and then at me. I
don't think that they entirely knew
what it was. I had a piece of paper
which was supplied by my manager
in Amsterdam. They looked at the
paper and that only made things
worse. Finally, I found out (after
having been detained there for about
half an hour) that I didn't really need
the paper, so they tore it up in front
of my eyes. Good Lord, I thought.
What if I needed the paper later to
get out of the country? But nothing
happened. I was not questioned again.
There was another time when I
was crossing from Austria into Germany.
I was stopped by the guard
who peered in the windows of my
station wagon. He didn't say a thing
about the harpsichord. He looked at
the license plate and then informed
me that the number of my registration
card was not the same as the license
plate number. Well, of course not! The
license plate number is not the same
as the vehicle identification number.
That took another five minutes. I
discovered that they were very fussy
at the Swiss-French border. Had I
not had a piece of paper showing that
I played on a Swiss radio station, I
would not have been able to get out.
Of course this is just one of the problems
of the harpsichordist.
I think that there are a lot of
people who are fascinated by the
harpsichord and decided to obtain an
instrument for themselves . . . then
find there are problems. One of these
problems is learning how to tune it.
They don't stop to think about that.
They think first of what a wonderful
sound it is. One must learn to tune,
or you must buy an electrical gadget
or something of the sort. There are
many different ways.
Rather more difficult is sitting
down at the instrument and learning
how to make the thing sound. That is
not easy. I think the most important
thing in learning to play the harpsichord
is getting the instrument to sing.
This takes keyboard control and it
requires a lot of hard work. There is
no cure-all to this. It is helpful to
listen to many different harpsichordists
and hear the different ways in
which harpsichordists play. And they
are all very different from each other.
Pay as little attention as possible to
sound effects . .. to changes in registration.
That's the floss .. . the color
of the car. The important thing is
what makes the engine run.
HARPSICHORD: What are your
concepts of programming?
KIPNIS: I was taught a long
time ago by Thurston Dart who looked
at my first recital program. I remember
that I wanted to play a Toccata.
He said that the one I selected
was a great piece but it should not be
the first piece one puts on a program.
The first piece is a 'throwaway'
piece. You have to get limbered
up a bit. Secondly, and very important,
the audience has to get used to
the harpsichord sound. It makes no
difference whether the audience is
harpsichord conscious or not. You can
throwaway your first five, six or seven
minutes. Then you can build. I like
to contrast very much. There is nothing
wrong with playing an all English
program. I've done that quite a lot,
but you have to jump around a little
bit. Audiences are not specialists.
Specialists can take a whole evening,
for example, of Elizabethan music.
I would love it. But most audiences
will get much more out of both the
instrument and the music if you jump
around a little. My own tastes are, I
think, fairly wide. I play wide range
of music, including contemporary
music.
I also like to stretch the harpsichord
as far as it will go. To play
up until the end of the 18th century
is treading on slightly dangerous
ground I know. Some people will say
that one never plays Mozart on the
harpsichord. This is, I think, sort of
a hindsight angle.
Mozart certainly played the
harpsichord. He also played the clavichord
a great deal. In fact, a lot of
Mozart sounds extremely well on the
clavichord. Much better than on the
harpsichord.
The point is, does the music
sound? Is it effective on the harpsichord?
Can you make it do what it
is supposed to do? If the answer is
negative, then you leave it alone!
I've just recorded a harpsichord concerto
of Mozart's, the E flat, K271.
Everyone I've mentioned that to says
that it was a piano concerto. In a way,
they are right, because everybody today
plays it on the piano. I claim that,
from an historical standpoint, it was
commissioned for a French keyboard
player. This was one of the few Mozart
commissions. The harpsichord
lasted the longest in France. The
French lady who commissioned the
work was obviously a harpsichordist.
There was no question about that.
She was a traveling virtuoso, but other
than that we don't know too much
about her. She asked Mozart for a
concerto and he wrote a piece which
is not too far different from the concertos
he was writing for a different
instrument.
I think there is too much of
a tendency any way to separate the
idea of the Forte piano and harpsichord.
They were very close. I decided
that the Mozart E flat concerto
was for the harpsichord. It sounds
very well on the harpsichord so I play
it on the harpsichord. In addition to
the recording I will play it three times
with orchestra. One of those performances
will be in London.
*_Interview with Igor Kipnis magazine The Harpsichord (US) May-July 1969 5/5_*
HARPSICHORD: Are you generally
satisfied with what comes off the
record and, how much editing is done
on your recordings?
KIPNIS: To get at the first
question, in general I am quite satisfied
with the way they have recorded me.
There is a tendency on the part of
most record companies to press a
rather loud record and over modulate.
This is nothing you can blame
on anyone person or one recording
company. They all seem to do it.
However, with certain types of playback
systems, it does not sound too
badly, that is if you don't play it at
the volume level of a Bruchner symphony.
And many people do.
The corollary of that is that
people hearing a harpsichord live in a
hall for the first time are very disappointed.
They have been hearing
it in their living rooms at a colossal
volume, then they hear this tiny little
sound peeking out from a silly little
instrument on the stage, which looks,
to them, like an outdated piano and
they wonder what's it all about.
I have tried to circumvent this
from happening, but it's entirely up
to the person playing the records. You
can't stand over them. You can put
all kinds of instructions on the jacket
but no one pays any attention to that.
If harpsichord recordings are
played at a loud volume, clavichord
recordings are ridiculous! I knew that
to get a distinction between the levels
of the harpsichord and clavichord that
I had to work out some sort of artificial
means of doing it. When the
record companies combine both instruments
on the same record, they go by
the general highest volume of both
instruments. I then, start off with a
harpsichord number which gives the
home listener an opportunity to set
the volume at the level he enjoys.
Then, in relation to that, when the
clavichord is introduced later, the
volume is much lower. This helps
some, but it is a very knotty kind of
problem. I don't know what can be
done about it except to train the listener
and have the listener exposed
to live harpsichord music.
"Another problem in recording
involves the recording engineers. Often
they will record much too close
to the instrument. They have a good
bit to learn in this respect.
Of course, the public is much
more aware of harpsichords today
than they have been for a long, long
time. Part of the reason is the use
of the harpsichord in other than classical
situations. The motion picture
now uses the harpsichord freely. Tom
Jones is an excellent example. Even
I have played harpsichord for the
films. I did the soundtrack for 'Hallelujah,
the Hills'. You can't listen to
an hour of commercials without running
into the harpsichord two, three
or four times. People may not always
be aware that it is a harpsichord, but
they remember and recognize the
sound. There are many people performing
on the harpsichord nowadays
and many more owning harpsichords.
There are also a staggering number
of harpsichord builders. I don't mean
just the kit builders, but professional
builders. And harpsichord recordings
are appearing in ever-growing numbers.
In the New York Musicians
Union book there are between thirty
and thirty-five harpsichords listed!
" In the early days of Landowska's
career, to play the harpsichord
was a very strange thing to do. I think
even when Kirkpatrick started in the
early thirties, perhaps even in the
forties, that this was considered an
unusual instrument. And now, while
they may not have heard the instrument
in person, they do recognize
what it is. And age is of no importance.
Young people take to it immediately.
My son, who is five, thinks
that there are only harpsichords. He
knows that there are such things as
pianos, but these are some strange instruments.
As far as he is concerned
there should be a harpsichord in
every home. And I agree with him!
HARPSICHORD: You own both
a clavichord and a harpsichord. Have
you any preference?
KIPNIS: I think I prefer them
each to themselves. There are quite
a few pieces which can be played quite
effectively on either one. The best
example of this is the Well-Tempered.
There is an Adagio in G which I
recorded as part of the Bach harpsichord-
clavichord album and this, to
me, is definitely a clavichord piece.
You may play the notes on a harpsichord
but you can't get the nuances.
I started with harpsichord and later
decided that it would be very nice
to have a clavichord so I could play
at home when the harpsichord was
downstairs in -the car. 1n other words,
I felt it would be a good practice instrument.
Also, I knew from all the
reading I had done that this was an
exceptional instrument for training
the fingers. And it has certainly been
good training. However, I find it less
good as a practice instrument if used
as a substitute for the harpsichord.
I have always said that playing
the harpsichord is like playing on
an uncooked egg as far as the finger
action is concerned. You can not hit it
heavily. You must treat is with care.
With the clavichord, it is like playing
on the same uncooked egg, but with
the shell off and only a thin membrane
between you and a mess! Approach
the instruments with that
mental picture in mind. If you work
at it and have any natural talent at
all you will, in time, feel at home with
both instruments. From there you can
go as far as you want to go.
Igor Kipnis
*_Interview with Igor Kipnis magazine The Harpsichord (US) May-July 1969 4/5_*
HARPSICHORD: This brings
us to the subject of old versus new
instruments. Do you prefer a harpsichord
based on the early instrument
or do you like the modern registers
which are now available?
KIPNIS: This is a very difficult
question to answer because you always
offend somebody no matter how
you try to answer it. From a per-
forming standpoint, if you are going
to be playing only the music written
for harpsichord before 1750, in most
cases, you can do very nicely on a
small one-stringed instrument. There
are a few, of course, which require
two manuals; Couperin, Bach, the
Italian Concerto and pieces of that
sort. For the ]larger instrument, I
think three sets of strings will do
very nicely with hand stops. In a way
this is very good, at least you know
what you can do and what you can't
do.
The whole modern concept of
harpsichord registration is something
we have to lay at Landowska's door-
step. It is very bad and it gives young
people the wrong impression of what
harpsichords are all about.
As many tone colors as possible
is not the be-all and end-all of
harpsichords. You should be able to
affect what you have to affect mostly,
if not exclusively, through the fingers.
"When it comes down to pedals,
you have machine stops toward the
end of the 18th century which get
fancier and more complicated. I had
a chance to try Haydn's harpsichord
in Vienna when I was there last fall.
That has many effects on it. This is a
big instrument and it has the Venetian
Swell. It was fun to play and also, to
my great surprise, to learn what you
can achieve by means of the pedals.
Getting one register out of the way
and throwing in another one can be
negotiated very easily and with different
effects. So, toward the end of
the century, a lot more was possible.
Because of this, I wouldn't say to
throw out the pedals and only have
hand stops unless you only wanted to
play music which was written before
the machine stops.
I think it is very important for
a professional harpsichordist not to
restrict himself simply to music of an
earlier day. It makes for better programming.
In addition, I think it is
somewhat of a duty to play at least
some contemporary compositions assuming
that the artist likes it and feels
he can do something with it. Then,
one must have an instrument which
is capable of al1 kinds of register shifts.
So you really do need the pedals.
"What I think is sad, is to use
'he very elaborate registrations and
elaborate registration changes on early
music which was obviously quite impossible
at the time, the music was
Written. You are very much on your
own. Do you want to be a purist
about this or do you want to be somebody
who is very much a modernist
and anything goes? You take your
pIck.
HARPSICHORD: Do you select
the numbers you record or does the
recording company select numbers for
you?
KIPNIS: In a few cases the recording
company does request certain
numbers. I have been very fortunate
with C.B.S. in that I have had
whole choice on all the numbers I have
played. The whole idea of the so called
'country' series that I have
been doing came about really by accident.
I received a contract from them
to make a minimum of one record a
year in 1964 which came just as I was
on my way to Tanglewood for my first
summer's teaching there. It was a
question of what was I going to put
together for 'a record which had to be
done in a rush. It turned out to be an
all French program. From then on,
it was quite easy in trying to figure
out what other countries could be
involved. And, of course, there is always
a volume two of the ones I have
already done. There was the French
one, English, Italian, Spanish, German
and also in the ice box in an
Austrian program with both harpsichord
and clavichord.
One suggestion they had was
for a 'pot-boiler' album. This was
something I didn't particularly care
for. Everybody plays the Turkish
Rondo, you name it. Everybody plays
all the pop pieces. But the more I
thought about it, I realized that it
might be fun to do. So I recorded that
last spring. I had 20 pieces ranging
from the Elizabethan school, including
even a version of Green Sleeves
up to the Beethoven: Minuet in G.
I recommend music lovers read the article by Michael Lorenz titled "The Continuing "Jeunehomme" Nonsense." Following is probably the most relevant statement regarding the name this concerto has been given:
'No "Miss Jeunehomme" ever existed, the name being a deliberate early twentieth-century invention. The nickname of Mozart's piano concerto K. 271 has been corrected to "Jenamy" since my discovery in 2004 of the identity of the person for whom Mozart wrote it.'
Perhaps the exact name isn't so important. Nevertheless musicology nerds such as myself love learning about such historical details and solutions to mysteries.
Thank you, Dana Winsor for putting the name of Mozarts concerto from the proper perspective of what we know today. That is well appreciated and good to know.
However, please consider that this recording and its original documentation was produced in 1969, some 54 years ago, but corrections are of course always more than welcome.
Dai, va bene tutto...ma 'sto concerto al cembalo...'n se po sentì...daje!!