New recording of modern harpsichord

We’re delighted to congratulate Southampton postgraduate research student Christopher Lewis on the release of his new CD on the Naxos label.  Christopher specialises in music for the revival harpsichord, and his PhD work is part of the “Making of the Modern Harpsichord” project sponsored by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the National Trust.

One of the pioneers of the 20th-century resurrection of interest in the harpsichord was the great virtuoso Wanda Landowska, who assisted in the development of a harpsichord built by Pleyel of Paris. Performing on a newly restored 1930s Pleyel harpsichord (pictured above), Christopher  has chosen a programme of 20th-century works by French or French-based composers. Poulenc’s colourful Suite française is followed by Françaix’s exciting and previously unrecorded Deux Pièces. Martinů’s lyricism and intensity of expression can be heard in the Sonata and other pieces while Louis Durey’s piquant Dix Inventions is both a homage to Bach’s Two-Part Inventions and a work whose compositional technique is firmly rooted in the modern era.  You can listen to a podcast about the recording (along with some sample tracks) on the Naxos website. And here’s an excellent review that appeared in Gramophone.

The new recording joins a disc of harpsichord concertos released last year.  Two further releases with Naxos are scheduled, one of the complete harpsichord works of American composer Vincent Persichetti, and another (linked to his PhD work at Southampton) of modern British harpsichord compositions.  See Chris’s website for more details on these and other projects.