Gathering Peascods for the Old Gray Mare Some Unusual Harpsichord Music Before Aliénor
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Harpsichord Gathering Peascods for the Old Gray Mare Some Unusual Harpsichord Music Before Aliénor By Larry Palmer Violet Gordon Woodhouse Pearl CD cover The 2012 inaugural meeting of the equally charming, though perhaps less the University of California, Berkeley new Historical Keyboard Society of historically informed, when performed in 196110 and Igor Kipnis recorded it North America (HKSNA), formed by without the ambient sound track. in 1976.11 I have occasionally enjoyed the merger of the Southeastern Histori- playing Delius’s purple-plush harmonies cal Keyboard Society (SEHKS, founded Thomé in a shortened version arranged by Bal- 1980) and its slightly younger sibling, New harpsichord music composed timore harpsichordist Joseph Stephens. the Midwestern Historical Keyboard for the earliest Revival harpsichords4 Each time I play the work I find fewer Society (MHKS, organized 1984), actually predates any recording of the notes to be necessary, and decide to was an historic event in itself. The instrument: Francis Thomé’s Rigodon, omit more and more of them, often an late March gathering in Cincinnati opus 97, a pièce de claveçin, was writ- approach that best serves these piano- included both the seventh iteration of ten for the fleet-fingered French pianist centric harpsichord refugees from the the Jurow Harpsichord Playing Com- Louis Diémer, and published in Paris by early Revival years. Since Delius surely petition and the eighth occurrence of Henry Lemoine and Company in 1892.5 ranks among the better-known compos- the International Aliénor Composition ers who attempted to write anything at Competition, plus scores of scholarly The first 20th-century all for the harpsichord, it seems worth presentations and short recitals, loosely harpsichord piece? the effort to forge an individual version organized into ten sessions, each with a There are currently two contenders for that serves to bring this quite lovely general connecting theme. “first place” in the 20th-century modern piece to the public. For my contribution to Session Seven harpsichord composition sweepstakes. (The Old Made New) I attempted to The first may be Mario Castelnuovo- Grainger craft a title enigmatic enough that Tedesco’s English Suite, originally com- Inspired by the recent anniversary it might pique the curiosity of a few mitted to paper in 1909 during his stu- year (2011) of the beloved eccentric Cover of Sharp’s Country Dance Tunes, potential auditors, but with the higher dent years in Florence, then recreated in Percy Grainger (he died in 1961), it arranged for piano goal of providing information about 1939 shortly after the Italian composer’s some of the earliest and relatively immigration to the United States. That obscure “new” compositions for harp- version, sent to prominent harpsichord- sichord from the early 20th-century. I ist Ralph Kirkpatrick in 1940, seems to hoped, as well, to underscore, at least have been ignored by the artist, but it by implication, the major stimulus for was ultimately published by Mills Music a continuing creation of new repertoire in New York in 1962.6 that has been provided by the Aliénor’s A second contender (dare we call it a prizes, performances, and publications “co-first”?), which is, thus far, the earli- since its inception in 1980. est published 20th-century harpsichord work, is Henri Mulet’s tender and Woodhouse plays Cecil Sharp charming miniature Petit Lied. Mulet is As early as July 1920, Violet Gordon most often remembered, if at all, for his Woodhouse, the most prominent and ten Byzantine Sketches for Organ, a set gifted of early 20th-century British harp- that ends with the sometimes-popular sichordists, recorded three of folksong toccata Tu es Petrus (Thou art the rock). collector Cecil Sharp’s Country Dance Comprising a brief seventeen measures, Tunes. Thus Sharp’s 1911 piano versions Mulet’s “Little Song” is dedicated to of the tunes Newcastle, Heddon of Faws- fellow organist Albert Périlhou, who ley, and Step Back serve as the earliest was characterized by his more famous “contemporary” music for harpsichord contemporary Louis Vierne, as “a com- committed to disc.1 poser of the 18th century.” So perhaps These were followed, in 1922, by this delicate, nostalgic work, published recorded performances of two more in 1910 “pour claveçin [ou piano]” was Cecil Sharp transcriptions, Bryhton intended to pay homage to Périlhou’s Camp and the evocatively titled Gath- antiquarian tendencies.7 ering Peascods.2 While the 1920 record- ings were already available in digital Busoni format, courtesy of Pearl Records’ 1916 saw the publication of Ferruc- Violet Gordon Woodhouse compact cio Busoni’s 1915 Sonatina ad usum disc,3 I had never heard the 1922 offer- infantis Madeline M.* Americanae pro ings. Peter Adamson, an avid collector Clavicimbalo composita8—a strange, but of these earliest discs, assured me that ultimately satisfying keyboard work that, he could provide the eponymous work with some imaginative editing, is play- listed in the title of this article. Both of able on a two-manual harpsichord, which us were surprised to find that Gathering one assumes the composer did, since he Peascods was never issued in the United was also the proud owner of such a 1911 Kingdom, but Peter was able to send Dolmetsch-Chickering instrument.9 me some superior dubs from the origi- nal 1920 discs, as well as a few seconds Delius of authentic 78-rpm needle scratching. Often described as “unplayable,” the Combining this acoustic noise with very original Dance for Harpsichord (for Sharp’s keyboard arrangement, quickly piano) by Frederick Delius came into located online via Google search, made being in 1919, inspired by the artistry of possible the restoration of Peascods to Violet Gordon Woodhouse. Kirkpatrick the roster of earliest recorded “con- included it in a unique program of 20th- temporary” harpsichord literature. It is century harpsichord music presented at WWW.THEDIAPASON.COM THE DIAPASON n NOVEMBER 2012 n 27 Harpsichord Francis Thomé, Oeuvres pour Piano Castelnuovo-Tedesco, English Suite Ferruccio Busoni at his Dolmetsch- Delius, Dance for Harpsichord Chickering harpsichord seemed fitting to rework another of my So why not present Grainger’s Handelian included on Kirkpatrick’s contemporary the dance music offends sensibility. It own arrangements, that of his “Room- romp edited for one player, ten fingers, music disc.14 sounds wrong; it is a breach. Prokofiev Music Tit-Bits,” the clog dance Handel and two manuals? Grainger’s own scores the dance (No. 25) for two pro- in the Strand, particularly after coming arrangement (“dished-up for piano solo, Duke Ellington vincial, out-of-tune harpsichords, the across Grainger’s own mention of the March 25, 1930, [in] Denton, Texas” For aficionados of jazz, the 44 mea- invisible performers carelessly barreling through the five-measure phrases at an in- harpsichord’s influence on his compo- according to the composer’s annotation sures of Duke Ellington’s A Single Petal of sane tempo—a comical comment on the sitional career. In a letter to the pianist in the printed score) provides a good a Rose comprise three manuscript pages hullabaloo that greets the arrival . of 13 Harold Bauer, Grainger wrote: starting place. now housed in the Paul Sacher Founda- a pompous regimental commander. There tion (Basel, Switzerland), available only ensues an enigmatic waltz (No. 26), which . the music [of my] Kipling Settings Persichetti and Powell as a facsimile in Ule Troxler’s invaluable Prokofiev scores first for string quintet . [is] an outcome of the influence Two major solo works from the volume documenting the many commis- and then, in a jarring contrast, for the two emanating from the vocal-solo numbers- 1950s composed for the harpsichordist sions bestowed on contemporary com- harpsichords . .17 with-accompaniment-of-solo-instru- Fernando Valenti deserve more perfor- posers by the wealthy Swiss harpsichord- ments in Bach’s Matthew-Passion, as I mances than they currently receive: Vin- ist Antoinette Vischer.15 About Ellington’s One wonders just how many pro- heard it when a boy of 12, 13, or 14 in cent Persichetti’s Sonata for Harpsichord unique work, Mme. Vischer wrote to the vincial harpsichords there were in Frankfurt. These sounds (two flutes and harpsichord . .) sounded so exquisite (now known as that prolific composer’s composer late in 1965: mid-1930s Russia, but this Polka from to my ears . that I became convinced Sonata No. One), still, to my ears, his Eugene Onegin, played at a slightly more that larger chamber music (from 8-25 most pleasing work for our instrument, Just on Christmas Eve I received your moderate pace, has served as a delight- performers) was, for me, an ideal back- and Mel Powell’s Recitative and Toc- marvelous piece . I am very happy ful encore for performances of Francis ground for single voices . .12 cata Percossa—another wonderful work about your composition and I want to as- Poulenc’s Concert Champêtre when that sure you of my greatest thanks. could I ask you the favour to give me the man- enchanting work is performed as a duo uscript with the dedication to my name with piano standing in for the orchestral as all other composers are doing for me, parts, just as it was presented by Wanda with a photo from you who always belong Landowska and Poulenc in the very first, to my collection . .16 pre-premiere hearing of Poulenc’s out- standing score.18 When Igor Kipnis asked whether I had any idea as to where he might find The Old Gray Mare, at last this score, I shared the citation infor- Having fêted a pompous general with mation with him. Some years later he Prokofiev’s Polka, it is time to explain reciprocated by sending an arrangement the reference to The Old Gray Mare.