Stephanie's Pillowbook

It has become something of an article of faith that classical music should be performed on the instruments for which they were intended – for only then, it is argued, can the music be played in the correct manner and style and only then will it sound right. Pianists in particular, however, have long been interested in appropriating music written for the harpsichord or clavichord. It cannot be denied that the effect is very different. One might even talk, in some cases, of re-creation. Yet when the results are beautiful does it matter? I appreciate authenticity – but authenticity does not trump art. Anyway, I find it difficult to believe that any Baroque composer would be opposed to such transcriptions in principle considering how central the practice was to many at that time.

1) So, first, here is Girolamo Frescobaldi’s Toccata No.1 played by Francesco Tristano Schlimé.

2) Next a subtle and profound Pavan (MB15) by Orlando Gibbons played on the piano by Daniel Ben-Pienaar.

3) Glenn Gould made a famous recording of early keyboard music which in the very anachronistic manner of its performance somehow brings the music to life. From that record this is William Byrd’s First Pavan and Gailliard.

4) The Sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti have long attracted pianists – they are irresistibly charming, varied, and beautiful. There are innumerable recordings – from them I have chosen the Sonata in b minor K87 in a very late recording made by Vladimir Horowitz. It is a performance which demonstrates perfectly how the piano brings out the melodic line and with it the almost vocal expressivity of this music.

5) Jean-Philippe Rameau’s piece for harpsichord, Le rappel des oiseaux used to be a great favourite with concert pianists. Here it is played with great delicacy by Robert Casadesus.

6) It is often thought that the keyboard music of French composers like Rameau and the Couperins was particularly resistant to being played on the piano. It is true that the music makes great use of the peculiarities of the harpsichord and that it is very difficult to transfer the ornamentation, for instance, to the piano in an effective way. But listen to Angela Hewitt playing Les Ombres Errantes by Francois Couperin. Is it not lovely?

7) Raymond Lewenthal made a fascinating LP once of Toccatas by various composers up to the present (including one by the pianist himself). The first on his programme was this brilliant little Toccata in g minor by Azzolino Bernardino della Ciaja.

8) Antonio Soler may well have been taught by Scarlatti – his many sonatas are as touching and playful as the older composer’s. Here is one in c sharp minor played by Alicia De Larrocha.

9) The Portuguese Carlos Seixas was similarly influenced by Scarlatti in his hundred or so sonatas. This, though, is a short and emotional Menuet in f minor played most movingly by Maria Grinberg.

10) Giovanni Battista Pescetti’s Sonata in c minor in an early recording by Clara Haskil.

11) Does it matter on which keyboard instrument you play Handel’s fabulous Chaconne in G (HWV435)? The harpsichord might be first choice but a version for piano only adds to and illuminates such music – don’t you think? Here it is played by Murray Perahia.

12) Of course it is not surprising that it is the music of Johann Sebastian Bach which pianists have plundered most. However necessary and important it is that we seek out aesthetically-correct and historically-informed performances, however fascinating and beautiful those performances might be, how could we live without Bach on the piano? To my mind it would be a needless form of asceticism to deny oneself such riches. I have been listening to a lot of the wonderful French pianist Marcelle Meyer lately – she recorded a great deal of Rameau, Couperin, Scarlatti and Bach. Here to end with is her heavenly playing of Bach’s Caprice from the Partita No.2.