Holy $¿(R/ this is fast:
Ok, now I am officially a huge Jean Rondeau fan--because it was also really, really good!
I'm pretty sure that his hair is like that because to play like this you have to practice virtually every waking hour. I think that also explains the un-ironed shirt and why he often plays barefoot...
Yes, Jean Rondeau is flawless in execution, technically exciting and best of all .... musical - he might even have important hair (sorry for the low blow - I stole it from Gore Vidal) ...
ReplyDeleteBut ...
... the harpsichord wraps the forces the listener into a too intimate relation to the snap and buzz, the execution of each note; it is too much the same snapping voice. Where is the color? Even slow tempi sound busy and buzzing. I'm not trying to be mean, but after 10 minutes you easily understand the end of 18th century flight - en masse- from the harpsichord to the piano ...
This is coming out harsher than I mean it to ... sorry ...
Thanks for posting the Rondeau Scarlatti. It was a tonic for trying times. There is a short, pithy Wikipedia entry on the artist. I quibble only with your explanation of his coiffure. Based on the images assembled by Google, Rondeau swings between an extreme quiff and classic "Grizzly Adams", with the occasional venture into Rasputin territory.
ReplyDeleteOf course, it is our aural reception of his art that is paramount. He may be a "gateway artist" for his generation to become acquainted with the music of his anachronistic instrument. He already shows up on Google among the "great harpsichordists like Landowska and Leonhardt.
We should be thrilled that Scarlatti alone gave Rondeau a repertoire of another 554 sonatas!
I love these kinds of comments! Dex, your aesthetic outrage is always welcome. It is just an indicator that the music matters. Segovia once said that the harpsichord sounded like two skeletons having sex on a tin roof, though he may have used a different term. I nearly married a harpsichordist and we lived together for a couple of years in which, in addition to listening to her practice, I also got to hear her "set the temperament" about once a week. I love the clangour of the harpsichord, always have. My only quibble with your opinion though, is an historical one. I think part of the flight from the harpsichord was that during The Terror of the French Revolution, they liked to burn them.
ReplyDeleteDavid, yes, Rondeau is like a force of nature, isn't he! Nice categorization of his hair.
Between David and Bryan you are taking a fire hose to my objections and wearing them down to nubs; how can I argue with Grizzly Adams at the harpsichord and the valuable reminder that one does not not like Scarlatti ...
ReplyDelete'Clangor' is interesting ... I like clangor ... if you use the right word with me you can get me to agree to anything ...
That Segovia quote ... whew ...
I think Segovia said "copulating on a tin roof."
ReplyDeleteI believe the quotation was by Sir Thomas Beecham (unless Beecham nicked it from Segovia -- I rather think the reverse is more likely). Beecham of course produced many great cutting one-liners; another that comes to mind is (the wording may not be exactly right) 'The English may not like music but they absolutely love the noise it makes'. Which as an Englishmen I am allowed to confirm as true.
ReplyDeleteRondeau is great. I also saw a great recital he did with the excellent lutenist Thomas Dunford (who is also, I think, married to Rondeau's sister, or it may be the other way round). The instruments work really well together.
Oh, heavens yes, Dunford is another force of nature. Could have been Beecham! I recall another one from him when he said something rather naughty to a lady cellist.
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