Rushton: RE your observation about most folks never having heard a harpsichord live, it is true that my earliest exposure to the instrument was an actual harpsichord, at the house of friends of my parents when I was a little kid. Though they didn't live in my neighborhood, their son and I were occasional playmates until maybe around age 8, so I had many opportunities so indulge my facsination for this instrument (which was how I felt from first sight/listen). I don't recall anybody from their family actually playing the thing though - it just looked so neat, and I would dink away on it until somebody got fed up and pried me off the bench. Contrast that with the piano (not that I don't love the piano today), which I was made to take lessons on and pretty much despised at around the same ages (except for jazz on my Dad's records).
I know a luthier in Paris - she's primarily reknowned for her period-style viola da gambas - who's made some awesomely beautiful Baroque harpsichords, but even if I could afford to commision one, I'm too late. She hasn't made one in probably close to 20 years; I think they're just too time-consuming, with too little demand, and she says she doesn't foresee ever doing another.
BTW, I'm a nut for harpsichord in pop contexts as well, which was a brief fad in the early-to-mid-60's. The Left Banke ("Walk Away Renee", known for its use of a string section) made a few good recordings featuring harpsichord. It remained popular as a movie soundtrack instrument through the late 60's and into the early 70's. One particular fav is a jazzy early-60's Henry Mancini bachelor-pad instro record called "Combo!, with lucsious RCA studio stereo sound, on which I believe Hank foregoes piano entirely in favor of harpsichord. It's the very definition of "ginchy"!
I know a luthier in Paris - she's primarily reknowned for her period-style viola da gambas - who's made some awesomely beautiful Baroque harpsichords, but even if I could afford to commision one, I'm too late. She hasn't made one in probably close to 20 years; I think they're just too time-consuming, with too little demand, and she says she doesn't foresee ever doing another.
BTW, I'm a nut for harpsichord in pop contexts as well, which was a brief fad in the early-to-mid-60's. The Left Banke ("Walk Away Renee", known for its use of a string section) made a few good recordings featuring harpsichord. It remained popular as a movie soundtrack instrument through the late 60's and into the early 70's. One particular fav is a jazzy early-60's Henry Mancini bachelor-pad instro record called "Combo!, with lucsious RCA studio stereo sound, on which I believe Hank foregoes piano entirely in favor of harpsichord. It's the very definition of "ginchy"!