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Stunning Harpsichord Recording

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

It may help that Purcell is just about my favorite composer, but the recording quality of the harpsichord is stunning. IME the harpsichord has not comfortably translated to audio, but this recording does.
jimjoyce25
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,668 posts
 
Another exceptional recording with outstanding dynamics is "English Harpsichord Music" performed by Igor Kipnis on Epic Records.

I picked this up for 25 cents last spring in the 4 for a dollar bin at the front of Westsider Records, 233 W 72nd St in Manhattan.
schipo
1,268 posts
 
There was a label called "wildboar" that has excellent Harpsichord music on Lp and cd. Also Mercs had "Puyana" on Lps and Cds. I would also look at the excellent "Albert Fuller" recording on Reference Recording's along with the Decca label and their recording artist Sylvia Marlowe. There's so many more and I'm sure many Audiogon members will have their favorites.
mrtennis
3,295 posts
 
are you primarily interested in sound or performance ?

if it is sound, consider recordings on the glossa and naive labels.
opalchip
355 posts
 
There's no question that for some reason solo harpsichord is very difficult to record well. I think also that a lot of harpsichords themselves just aren't that enjoyable to listen to. So it's a tough combination.

Anyway - I've had A LOT of harpsichord LP's go through here and I listen to every one at least briefly just because of the above. The good ones are rare, but very satisfying! I'd say my favorites sonically are the EMI Reflexe series with Colin Tilney playing. The William Byrd is a great one that comes to mind. I assume these are available on CD.
In a related but different vein, a wonderful lp is :
J.J. Froeberger Clavichord Music, Thurston Dart playing on the L'Oiseau Lyre label. A very warm and detailed recording of some very interesting (in a mellow way) music.
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