Very nice. I've always enjoyed playing JP Sweelink's Tocattas and other works. They sound very nice on the clavichord and don't seem to get lost on the big instruments like the works of other composers from the same period.
Many years ago I helped prepare singing editions of some of Sweelinck’s numerous (150!) psalm settings, which our choir then took on tour. It was wonderful music and certainly a highlight of my experience as a choral singer. That is the perspective with which I listen to this music, whose language is certainly more international than personal, but which does gradually accrue a sense of a unique consciousness, especially in such a thoughtful, attentive performance. Thanks for that.
Hi Wim, I couldn't help but think how this reminded me a bit of the Cantio Sacra, by Scheidt, not knowing Sweelinck (sorry, shame on me, but forgive me, I lived in a world of Chopin!) I did some quick Wikipedia research and found out Sweelinck was Schied's teacher! I was learning to play organ and would play the Scheidt Cantio, didn't get through all the variations, but loved the piece and if I remember it gets played during Lent/ Holy week. I would even play on my digital piano (I know this might offend some) because I love it so much! Now listening to you play Sweelinck I have a new composer to love and not knowing anything about this piece, I really enjoy the way you play it! Thanks Wim!
Thank you: a magnificent performance of a magnificent work by one of the greatest of the great composers. Your comparison to Mozart on a Steinway is interesting, but I wonder... if we have a Steinway and we don’t have a Viennese fortepiano, is the answer to play no Mozart? When Bach played Frescobaldi, as I think we know he did, he clearly did not find it necessary to acquire a Renaissance Italian virginals first, but played Frescobaldi on whatever clavichord or harpsichord he had available at the time and chose to use. Historicism is no simple thing, and you may well be showing us another aspect of it here: Sweelinck as Bach might have played him. More Sweelinck? Yes, please!
Very true, but the works of the early composers do sound awful on the modern piano due to the modern piano being to clumsy. Although, if you had a room full of pianos including a Viennese fortepiano, which one would you choose to play Mozart? I have noticed that later Baroque and Classical period works fine for some reason. Bach and Scarlatti, for example, can be done very well, but Sweelink, Byrd, or Morley gets overpowered and lost, and ends up sounding mushy no matter how little pedaling one uses.
Of course, I was not suggesting that historicism doesn’t matter, and that there is no loss in playing early music on modern instruments. Obviously, I would not be a subscriber to this channel unless I were profoundly interested in HIPP and wanting to learn more about it all the time. Almost self-evidently, the ideal instrument is one from the same provenance as the work’s composition. What I was suggesting is that firstly one has to balance practicalities against purism, and secondly, that historicism is far from being a simple thing enabling us to pinpoint the ‘correct’ instrument and reject all others. The answer to the question posed is that if I were so fortunate as be offered a room full of pianos to try some Mozart, I would first choose the Viennese fortepiano, then every other instrument in the room, and then (I expect) would return to the fortepiano. But that does not stop me believing that it is better to play Mozart (or Bach, or...) on a modern piano than not to play Mozart at all. There are many pedagogical reasons why we cannot always say what ‘the correct’ instrument may be, and many practical reasons why we cannot always have access to it. This video, surely, demonstrates wonderfully how much can be gained by hearing a fine work played on a fine instrument by a fine musician: the difference in period between the work and the instrument is a comparatively minor issue and does not detract from all the listener has to gain in both interest and enjoyment.
Hi John, I certainly didn't meant Bach/Mozart,... shouldn't be played on a Steinway! I'm a fan of Glenn Gould! Only, playing Sweelinck on my clav felt like playing Mozart on a Steinway, suddenly the instrument feels so big...
@@Clavichordist You didn't like Gould's interpretation of fantasia g1 on piano? But you are right, normaly very early music doesn't fit the piano, but i think it sounds amazing in Wim Winters instrument.
@@melzlink4100 As someone who plays the clavichord, the same one seen in my avatar, as well as the modern piano, I do prefer this music played on the clavichord. The modern piano doesn't quite do it for me, because it's not the same no matter who plays it. A modern piano has too many overtones and too much body to the sound in addition to the tuning which is really a lot different even if equal temperament is used on both instruments. The instrument as I said above overpowers the music and it sounds blah due to the tuning. I say this from experience as I've played this and other Sweeklink pieces, and many others by Byrd, Morley, Bull, and others from the early days. JS Bach, his sons, and Scarlatti, however, can sound quite nice. Glen's Mozart and Bach, however, is truly awesome, albeit, I think too fast and always felt that way even when I was a kid and wore out my dad's records and 8-track tapes listening to them.
Really !! it has a beautiful breath to it. The sound of this instrument even refers a bit to a virginal,more than to a 18th Century harpsichord .... Your timing ,articulation and frasing (?) is so very atractive ! Also here in Sweelink. Please do more Sweelinck as well.
This was beautiful - thank you very much. I found it very persuasive on your instrument - do you feel that the triple fretted Clarke would have been a better fit? As to more Sweelinck? Yes, please!
the fretted clav could not have absorbed the energy necessary for this remarkable highly virtuosity piece. Even my clav gets a warm feeling when the sixths etc come. It's an interesting question though, and one that might involve a lot of research, also to virginalen, spinetten, clavichords, harpsichord, organs, ...
I think it works well on your Saxon clavichord - which has a certain organ quality about it, A pleasing alternative might be a low wind-pressure chamber organ. Well done.
Wonderful as always, Wim. I woke late today after a horrible night and had this to get my juices going. Very delightful and inspirational for my day. I love how the opening so fully exposes the back scale of the clavichord. I would like to make one request of you for AuthenticSound: Would you be willing to lay a heavy blanket on the strings (especially heavy over the tenor and bass) on the Erard and then reclose the lid in order to block all sympathetic vibrations coming from it to ensure we are hearing the true sound of the Clavichord and not ambient sympathy from the piano?) I have a question about the organ as well... I'm used to seeing a plain music rack above the manuals but I see something like a pair of round objects there. Is that some sort of vent hidden behind the music desk only visible when you pull the desk out or do you have something sitting on it? Totally off topic of course! I'm replying in part to the person who asked about the organ - I hope I don't overstep my bounds and also get the answer right. You might want to check me on the answer...
Hi David, there is no participation of the Erard in these recordings, the sympathetic sound is all from the clav (free soundboard as we communicated lately!). Nice you saw the discs! Andy is (of course) right, he's part of the project
I was hoping that was the case but the back scale is so full I was having trouble believing it could come from that little clavichord! I'm glad to hear it does. The process of how one treats the back scale in building a clavichord is a topic I have been studying lately.
Finally! I have been hoping you would play Sweelinck. Yes, and of course, as much Sweelinck as possible. This great native Dutch composer is often overlooked and wrote wonderful music. He was a giant in an age of giants (Gibbons, Dowland, Monteverdi, Byrd, Praetorius, Frescobaldi). Was this music written for the spinet?
Hi Marius, the type of instrument for which Sweelinck composed is not clear, and most probable, they played it an all the instruments they had, organ, spinet, virginaal, clavichord (unfretted then), harpsichord,...
Dear Wim, thanks for this nice video. I’m currently working on this peace and I got some questions on the technique- particularly on double thirds and sixths in a one hand. This issue occurs in some other pieces and the problem is when there are flats or sharps and one can not apply a ‘standard fingering’ for it- for instance the semi quaver runs in one hand with flats. What would be your comment on this? Many thanks.
Hi Maris, I would compromise a little bit for technical certainty there. I share the scans of my personal scores with fingerings on my patreon site, but here is the my score of this piece with fingerings, hope this helps! www.dropbox.com/s/aeg4ggyc9mwti4a/Ricercar.pdf?dl=0
Een Noord-Nederlands ricercare op een Saksisch klavechord van een Zuid-Nederlandse instrumentenbouwer. Wie zegt nu nog dat de Lage Landen geen rijke muziektraditie hebben?
Yes, LOVE JPS, not so much on the clavichord, though, although it is by no means hideous. Playing JPS on a big ole Steinway would be completely ghastly and even offensive. Does that lovely little organ at the other end of the room work? Maybe try a little Sweelinck on that.
I've known Wim for a while and might be able to answer your question for him in part. Wim is an organ consultant (tonal and technical consultant - not a rebuilder or maker) and he plays organ better than anyone I happen to know personally. However, organs take a lot of time to be put through their maintenance. That is a tracker organ and all the key linkages need occasional regulation and the pipes need to be tuned. Small organs of this type often use the most unique methods to cram the pipes into the space permitted and tuning them can be quite a task. I would guess that Wim has not been able to justify the time or money to keep it in performance condition. I don't know for a fact whether it ever was fully performance ready after it was installed into his house; he'd have to answer that. But I believe it will not be offered for performance on AuthenticSound anytime soon for those reasons (too many other priorities.) I hope this helps.
I like Sweelinck much more on the clavichord than on the harpsichord/virginal (I think it would sound even better on a fretted clavichord,like his recording of the Echo fantasia in d or Von der fortuna)
great
Thank you for this splendid performance of a beautiful piece. More Sweelinck please.
Affascinante ricercare. Complimenti per l’esecuzione accurata.
There were/are many fine composers who have been neglected. This is lovely.
Very nice. I've always enjoyed playing JP Sweelink's Tocattas and other works. They sound very nice on the clavichord and don't seem to get lost on the big instruments like the works of other composers from the same period.
BRAVO!! Asolutely Brilliant!!
clavichord sounds mighty sweet…well played and well recorded too
The first time, I have heard this on clavichord. Very special! Thanks
Elegant. Like the look in the studio!
Thanks Robert, i'll answer the mail soon, it has been a craaaaazy last days
Absolutely magnificent!
Always a first time for everything. I enjoyed your performance of Sweelinck's work. One can tell that Sweelinck has a unique style. Thank you Wim.
Thanks Joseph!
what a wonderful work of art!
Many years ago I helped prepare singing editions of some of Sweelinck’s numerous (150!) psalm settings, which our choir then took on tour. It was wonderful music and certainly a highlight of my experience as a choral singer. That is the perspective with which I listen to this music, whose language is certainly more international than personal, but which does gradually accrue a sense of a unique consciousness, especially in such a thoughtful, attentive performance. Thanks for that.
Thanks for sharing your story here, John!
Bravo. Beautiful.
Wonderful!
I have heard of Sweelinck ...but no compositions of his music played ...Thanks Wim ..Great to hear .. :)
Hi Wim, I couldn't help but think how this reminded me a bit of the Cantio Sacra, by Scheidt, not knowing Sweelinck (sorry, shame on me, but forgive me, I lived in a world of Chopin!) I did some quick Wikipedia research and found out Sweelinck was Schied's teacher! I was learning to play organ and would play the Scheidt Cantio, didn't get through all the variations, but loved the piece and if I remember it gets played during Lent/ Holy week. I would even play on my digital piano (I know this might offend some) because I love it so much! Now listening to you play Sweelinck I have a new composer to love and not knowing anything about this piece, I really enjoy the way you play it! Thanks Wim!
Sorry, didn't indicate which Cantio it is, "Warum betrubst du dich, mein Herz"
Great you discovered this master through this recording!
how is the clavichord tuned for pieces like this?
Thank you: a magnificent performance of a magnificent work by one of the greatest of the great composers.
Your comparison to Mozart on a Steinway is interesting, but I wonder... if we have a Steinway and we don’t have a Viennese fortepiano, is the answer to play no Mozart? When Bach played Frescobaldi, as I think we know he did, he clearly did not find it necessary to acquire a Renaissance Italian virginals first, but played Frescobaldi on whatever clavichord or harpsichord he had available at the time and chose to use. Historicism is no simple thing, and you may well be showing us another aspect of it here: Sweelinck as Bach might have played him.
More Sweelinck? Yes, please!
Very true, but the works of the early composers do sound awful on the modern piano due to the modern piano being to clumsy. Although, if you had a room full of pianos including a Viennese fortepiano, which one would you choose to play Mozart?
I have noticed that later Baroque and Classical period works fine for some reason. Bach and Scarlatti, for example, can be done very well, but Sweelink, Byrd, or Morley gets overpowered and lost, and ends up sounding mushy no matter how little pedaling one uses.
Of course, I was not suggesting that historicism doesn’t matter, and that there is no loss in playing early music on modern instruments. Obviously, I would not be a subscriber to this channel unless I were profoundly interested in HIPP and wanting to learn more about it all the time. Almost self-evidently, the ideal instrument is one from the same provenance as the work’s composition. What I was suggesting is that firstly one has to balance practicalities against purism, and secondly, that historicism is far from being a simple thing enabling us to pinpoint the ‘correct’ instrument and reject all others. The answer to the question posed is that if I were so fortunate as be offered a room full of pianos to try some Mozart, I would first choose the Viennese fortepiano, then every other instrument in the room, and then (I expect) would return to the fortepiano. But that does not stop me believing that it is better to play Mozart (or Bach, or...) on a modern piano than not to play Mozart at all. There are many pedagogical reasons why we cannot always say what ‘the correct’ instrument may be, and many practical reasons why we cannot always have access to it. This video, surely, demonstrates wonderfully how much can be gained by hearing a fine work played on a fine instrument by a fine musician: the difference in period between the work and the instrument is a comparatively minor issue and does not detract from all the listener has to gain in both interest and enjoyment.
Hi John, I certainly didn't meant Bach/Mozart,... shouldn't be played on a Steinway! I'm a fan of Glenn Gould! Only, playing Sweelinck on my clav felt like playing Mozart on a Steinway, suddenly the instrument feels so big...
@@Clavichordist You didn't like Gould's interpretation of fantasia g1 on piano? But you are right, normaly very early music doesn't fit the piano, but i think it sounds amazing in Wim Winters instrument.
@@melzlink4100 As someone who plays the clavichord, the same one seen in my avatar, as well as the modern piano, I do prefer this music played on the clavichord.
The modern piano doesn't quite do it for me, because it's not the same no matter who plays it. A modern piano has too many overtones and too much body to the sound in addition to the tuning which is really a lot different even if equal temperament is used on both instruments. The instrument as I said above overpowers the music and it sounds blah due to the tuning.
I say this from experience as I've played this and other Sweeklink pieces, and many others by Byrd, Morley, Bull, and others from the early days. JS Bach, his sons, and Scarlatti, however, can sound quite nice.
Glen's Mozart and Bach, however, is truly awesome, albeit, I think too fast and always felt that way even when I was a kid and wore out my dad's records and 8-track tapes listening to them.
Really !! it has a beautiful breath to it.
The sound of this instrument even refers a bit to a virginal,more than to a 18th Century harpsichord ....
Your timing ,articulation and frasing (?)
is so very atractive ! Also here in Sweelink.
Please do more Sweelinck as well.
Thanks, I'll keep it in mind!
Pleaseee, for god sake, play more Sweelinck, jeese
This was beautiful - thank you very much. I found it very persuasive on your instrument - do you feel that the triple fretted Clarke would have been a better fit? As to more Sweelinck? Yes, please!
the fretted clav could not have absorbed the energy necessary for this remarkable highly virtuosity piece. Even my clav gets a warm feeling when the sixths etc come. It's an interesting question though, and one that might involve a lot of research, also to virginalen, spinetten, clavichords, harpsichord, organs, ...
I think it works well on your Saxon clavichord - which has a certain organ quality about it, A pleasing alternative might be a low wind-pressure chamber organ. Well done.
Wonderful as always, Wim. I woke late today after a horrible night and had this to get my juices going. Very delightful and inspirational for my day. I love how the opening so fully exposes the back scale of the clavichord.
I would like to make one request of you for AuthenticSound: Would you be willing to lay a heavy blanket on the strings (especially heavy over the tenor and bass) on the Erard and then reclose the lid in order to block all sympathetic vibrations coming from it to ensure we are hearing the true sound of the Clavichord and not ambient sympathy from the piano?)
I have a question about the organ as well... I'm used to seeing a plain music rack above the manuals but I see something like a pair of round objects there. Is that some sort of vent hidden behind the music desk only visible when you pull the desk out or do you have something sitting on it? Totally off topic of course! I'm replying in part to the person who asked about the organ - I hope I don't overstep my bounds and also get the answer right. You might want to check me on the answer...
The round objects: those are masters for the Pachelbel Hexachordum recording! (Source: pictures Wim sent me)
Hi David, there is no participation of the Erard in these recordings, the sympathetic sound is all from the clav (free soundboard as we communicated lately!). Nice you saw the discs! Andy is (of course) right, he's part of the project
I was hoping that was the case but the back scale is so full I was having trouble believing it could come from that little clavichord! I'm glad to hear it does. The process of how one treats the back scale in building a clavichord is a topic I have been studying lately.
Finally! I have been hoping you would play Sweelinck. Yes, and of course, as much Sweelinck as possible. This great native Dutch composer is often overlooked and wrote wonderful music. He was a giant in an age of giants (Gibbons, Dowland, Monteverdi, Byrd, Praetorius, Frescobaldi). Was this music written for the spinet?
He already has another Sweelinck recording on the channel.
Hi Marius, the type of instrument for which Sweelinck composed is not clear, and most probable, they played it an all the instruments they had, organ, spinet, virginaal, clavichord (unfretted then), harpsichord,...
Dear Wim, thanks for this nice video. I’m currently working on this peace and I got some questions on the technique- particularly on double thirds and sixths in a one hand. This issue occurs in some other pieces and the problem is when there are flats or sharps and one can not apply a ‘standard fingering’ for it- for instance the semi quaver runs in one hand with flats. What would be your comment on this? Many thanks.
Hi Maris, I would compromise a little bit for technical certainty there. I share the scans of my personal scores with fingerings on my patreon site, but here is the my score of this piece with fingerings, hope this helps! www.dropbox.com/s/aeg4ggyc9mwti4a/Ricercar.pdf?dl=0
@@AuthenticSound Many thanks! I am very grateful.
Who built this instrument?
Do you have any recordings of your organ?
in fact... I don't...
-ut didn't you mention an organ CD you recorded a few years ago? Not at home, I suppose, but it's your organ playing, at least :-)
I would love to hear a recording of your organ one day. It looks like a really beautiful instrument
Holy crap, is that a pipe organ in your house?!
yes! Conacher 1896
I think Sweelinck works well on your instrument, especially the way you play it.
Een Noord-Nederlands ricercare op een Saksisch klavechord van een Zuid-Nederlandse instrumentenbouwer. Wie zegt nu nog dat de Lage Landen geen rijke muziektraditie hebben?
:-)
Yes, LOVE JPS, not so much on the clavichord, though, although it is by no means hideous. Playing JPS on a big ole Steinway would be completely ghastly and even offensive. Does that lovely little organ at the other end of the room work? Maybe try a little Sweelinck on that.
If I remember correctly it's a 19th century organ, so not a Sweelinck instrument either
Hi Lari, that organ is a late 19th century organ, Sweelinck would get lost on it a bit
I've known Wim for a while and might be able to answer your question for him in part. Wim is an organ consultant (tonal and technical consultant - not a rebuilder or maker) and he plays organ better than anyone I happen to know personally. However, organs take a lot of time to be put through their maintenance. That is a tracker organ and all the key linkages need occasional regulation and the pipes need to be tuned. Small organs of this type often use the most unique methods to cram the pipes into the space permitted and tuning them can be quite a task. I would guess that Wim has not been able to justify the time or money to keep it in performance condition. I don't know for a fact whether it ever was fully performance ready after it was installed into his house; he'd have to answer that. But I believe it will not be offered for performance on AuthenticSound anytime soon for those reasons (too many other priorities.) I hope this helps.
You're right, Sweelinck would sound less than thrilling on a 19th century organ. Do you happen to also own a harpsichord?
I like Sweelinck much more on the clavichord than on the harpsichord/virginal (I think it would sound even better on a fretted clavichord,like his recording of the Echo fantasia in d or Von der fortuna)