The great actress desires some one to tune her clavecin:- -
"'Papa would have gone; but I begged him so earnestly to take me to the Theatre Francais that he could not refuse; and it is yourself will go this evening to tune the clavecin of your beloved.'
The various distinguished people who had fingered his clavecins, and turned over the [140] folios of music, for half a century past, had left their memories behind them; M.
Bach: Concerti pour
clavecin is performed by Pierre Hantai and Le Concert Francais (Astree E8523, rec 1993) in a remarkably lively, rhythmically taut style, precisely articulated with crystal-clear textures, ideal balance and just enough rubato and ornamentation.
This new book has a predecessor of sorts in French Piano Music: A Survey with Notes on its Performance, by Norman Demuth (London: Museum Press, 1959), in which French music: for
clavecin as well as the piano from Champion and Chambonnieres to Dutilleux and Boulez is covered in 179 small-sized pages.
Rigel's opus 14 duets for piano and
clavecin appeared toward the end of 1778.
If you listen to Christophe Rousset's interpretation of Couperin's pieces de
clavecin you think you are sitting inside the harpsichord: there is no listening distance from the instrument.