British Harpsichord Society
The British Harpsichord Society promotes awareness, enjoyment, study, playing and ownership of harpsichords and related plucked keyboard instruments in Britain. Our aim is to create more public awareness and encourage more people to enjoy and play the harpsichord.
We arrange recital-meetings on the second Tuesday of each month, and other events on some Saturdays, at the Handel House Museum.
Membership is free: click here to join.
Please see below for more details and news...
Flemish harpsichord by the Wiltshire builder Peter Smalley.
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This website is under new management: we ask our readers’ indulgence as regards the inevitable frequent changes, temporary designs, occasional errors, and so on that accompany the updating process.
A website is only as good as the information it contains, so we warmly invite performers, makers, event promoters, and others to let us have their items of news, so that we can post them here and make the BHS website an ever-changing source of current information.
Please use this link to contact us:
Memoranda
Events in the next few days...
SATURDAY 5th JULY at 3.30pm: Grosvenor Chapel, South Audley Street, Mayfair W1Y 5DL
Before Buxtehude
Andrew Benson-Wilson (organ)
Composers include Jacob Praetorius, Scheidt, Schildt, Scheidemann, Heironymus Praetorius III, Tunder and Weckmann.
Tickets: £8 on the door
TUESDAY 8th JULY at 1.10pm: St Anne’s Lutheran Church, Gresham Street, London EC2V 7BX
Michele Benuzzi (harpsichord)
Scarlatti (Sonatas K45, K213, K208, K36, K136, K436), Cosuenda, Seixas, & de Albero
Information: click this link
Admission: free (donations welcome) - coffee is served
TUESDAY 8th JULY at 6.30pm: Handel House, 25 Brook Street, London W1K 4HB
A BRITISH HARPSICHORD SOCIETY RECITAL
The Meaning of Partita
Erik Dippenaar (harpsichord)
Frescobaldi, Froberger, Buxtehude, Kuhnau, Rameau, and J.S.Bach
Information: click this link
Tickets: £7 Tel: 020 7399 1953 ONLY TWO TICKETS LEFT
TUESDAY 8th JULY at 7.30pm: West Road Concert Hall, 11 West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DP
J. S. Bach, Well-Tempered Clavier Book I
Richard Egarr (harpsichord)
Box Office: 01223 503333 (Cambridge Arts Theatre)
Tickets: £14, £20, £27 including free programme
TUESDAY 8th JULY at
French Suites – Bach’s French Connection
Kah-Ming Ng (harpsichord)
J.S. Bach (French Suite No. 5 in G), Böhm, Couperin, D’Anglebert and Froberger
Lunch-Time Recital - Michele Benuzzi: ‘Mediterranean Soul’
St Anne's Lutheran Church (Gresham Street, London EC2V 7BX): Tuesday 8th July at 1.10pm
The stunningly talented Italian harpsichordist Michele Benuzzi makes a welcome return to this country for a recital that explores some of the technically and spiritually extravagant sonatas from southern Europe in the late baroque era: he matches several works by Scarlatti with interesting later examples in the ‘Scarlatti’ tradition. Click this link to read further details.
'He is, quite simple phenomenal' (from the review of Michele Benuzzi's last London recital)
Admission free (donations welcome)
Our Next Evening Recital - Erik Dippenaar: ‘The Meaning of Partita’
The Handel House Museum (25 Brook Street, LondonW1K 4HB): Tuesday 8th July at 6.30pm
This recital follows the history of the partita and how it transformed over the course of more than a century, exploring its evolution in the hands of influential composers: Girolamo Frescobaldi, Johann Jacob Froberger, Dieterich Buxtehude, Johann Kuhnau, Jean Philippe Rameau, and Johann Sebastian Bach. Click this link to read further details.
Booking line:020 7399 1953 (early booking is essential to avoid disappointment) ONLY TWO TICKETS LEFT
The young harpsichordist Masumi Yamamoto, whom we again had the pleasure of hearing at our last Saturday event, is prominent on the London recital circuit during coming weeks and months.
On Thursday 17th July at 1.15pm she gives a solo harpsichord recital at St. Pancras Church (which is on the corner of Euston Road and Upper Woburn Place, in London): her programme will include Handel (the d minor Suite) and a work by Bach. Then on the evening of the same day (6.30pm), she is at Handel House, playing with baroque flautist Eva Caballero - De la Barr & D’Anglebert, Bach & Handel. Then a few days later (Thursday 24th July at 1.05pm), she is again the harpsichordist in a duo programme at St. Mary-le-Bow, London, this time with the well-known gamba player Ibi Aziz - the Bach Sonatas for Viola da Gamba.
Then later in the year, Masumi will give her first solo recital for the British Harpsichord Society.Her programme will trace the tradition of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century German keyboard music through works by Weckmann and Buxtehude, culminating in J.S. Bach.
New CD - Gilbert Rowland: Sonatas by Albero
Gilbert Rowland has a very impressive CD portfolio already, and one of his main specialisms is the music of Spain in the high-to-late baroque period. So it is most interesting to hear of his latest venture: a selection of twenty sonatas by Sebastián de Albero, one of the several composers in the Scarlatti tradition. The recording is for London Independent Records and should be out in March 2009.
Sebastián Ramón de Albero y Añaños (1722 - 1756) clearly came under the influence of Scarlatti: it seems generally agreed that his sonatas evidence the same folk influences and extravagant techniques. Gilbert Rowland, who plays Scarlatti and Soler with such panache, will doubtless do the same with Albero. It will be something to look forward to.
Gilbert's substantial recording career began with a complete cycle of Scarlatti Sonatas; since then he has added Fischer, Rameau, and a complete cycle of Soler sonatas (for Naxos). His recordings can be obtained direct: 020 8690 3002.
Our Last Saturday Afternoon Event - Sharon Gould & Others: 'Partitas of J. S. Bach'
This event fully lived up to expectations - with the one sad exception that Charlotte Wilson (a most talented young player whom we had the pleasure of hearing at one of our recitals last year) was indisposed. But Robert Koolstra, Masumi Yamamoto, Elenlucia Pappalardo, and Sharon Gould gave us exciting, interesting, and moving performances to study and enjoy.
There was a good deal of discussion, expertly led by Sharon Gould: a number of fascinating points emerged, adding greatly to the value of the afternoon.
And there is further good news, in that Masumi will be giving a solo recital for us later in the year, and Sharon now has plans for a Bach Partitas CD...
Our June Recital - Michele Benuzzi: 'Melancholie, Plainte and Lamentation'
Earlier this month, the rather phenomenal Italian harpsichordist Michele Benuzzi gave another recital for the Society at the Handel House Museum. Once again he delighted the audience with a most interesting programme and spectacularly beautiful playing.
A full review of the recital can be read here.
Michele has recorded the harpsichord concertos by C. P. E. Bach for La Bottega Discantica: the CD had excellent reviews. In 2007 he recorded the harpsichord concertos and symphonias by W. F. Bach, and he recently signed a contract with the same label to record the complete W. F. Bach harpsichord works.
Fortunately, we do not have to wait long before hearing Michele again, as he is due to give a lunch-time recital at St Anne’s Lutheran Church on July 8th (playing Sonatas by Scarlatti, Cosuenda, Seixas and de Albero). Click here for full details.
Recital by Gilbert Rowland at Ripley Arts Centre
Gilbert Rowland's recent harpsichord recital at Ripley Arts Centre was an enjoyable and exciting event, displaying the confident virtuosity that is typical of his playing.
A full review can be read by clicking on this link.
We are fortunate in having Gilbert playing at BHS events with generous regularity. He is one of the foremost harpsichordists in this country, with entire CD cycles of Scarlatti and Soler to his credit, as well as recordings of Rameau - and a most interesting and rewarding CD of music by the rather neglected (though unfairly neglected) Fischer. He is about to record a new CD of music by Albero, and we hear interesting plans for a good deal more Handel. Those who missed Gilbert's recital may like to know that his recordings can be obtained direct: 020 8690 3002.
Our May Recital -Ludmila Tschakalova: 'John Blow's Restoration'
It was a cunningly chosen programme exhibiting the range and exuberance of Blow’s inventive energy, specially his delight in the seventeenth century Ground, a favourite form of the time. Blow’s lively treatment of the Ground surprised Ludmila who enjoyed sharing with us his mischievous treatment of the conventionally solemn Ground by losing it all of a sudden, only to recapture it for a second innings or a spontaneous coda.
Blow’s style grew up with the virtuosic scales of the Jacobean repertoire and gradually absorbed the charmed patterns and beguiling harmonic sequences of the Italian baroque. Inserted in the programme for contrast were Froberger’s Toccata in E minor and a Prelude by J. C. F. Fischer whose works Blow copied. But a very frenchified Allemande by Blow was a telling acknowledgement of Charles II’s musical taste. So very English as Blow probably was, he was also very shrewd and informed.
Throughout, Ludmila Tschakalova’s sparkling clarity and rhythmic propulsion made each item an exciting voyage of discovery.
Stephen Dodgson
The Society
Harpsichords, spinets and virginals are included. (Pianos, fortepianos and clavichords are not, but we are happy to point people to complementary organisations such as the British Clavichord Society or Friends of Square Pianos.)
Our website is intended to complement existing harpsichord resources, with both original material and links to other sources of information.
We arrange meetings on the second Tuesday of each month, featuring an early-evening harpsichord recital, as well as more extended events on some Saturday afternoons. Most appropriately, they are held at the Handel House Museum. Our recitals invariably sell out beforehand, so it is essential to make an early booking. The box-office is now open at Handel House with tickets available for the current series: 020 7399 1953.
We publish a Newsletter, to which are welcome.
Membership
Anyone with an interest or occupation related to the harpsichord is welcome: amateur or professional, music lover, performer, teacher, builder or collector. (The list is inclusive not exclusive.) The British Harpsichord Society membership list will not be published, but we will be pleased to be publicly associated with those members who so wish. Those on the brink of an interest in harpsichords are welcome, as are those with a lifetime of skill and experience, and all others in between. The focus is on Britain, but overseas members are welcomed where circumstances make membership of a UK organisation appropriate.
Click here to join. Joining the Society and continuing as a member cost nothing: there is no joining fee or annual subscription. The Society communicates via the internet: this costs very little. Arranging harpsichord concerts and visits involves some costs and some risks. Donations are very welcome to help make these possible, and to defray the expense of maintaining this website.
After joining, please do let us know if you change your email address.
Members can, if they are kind enough to do so, be most helpful in (for example) distributing our flyers at events or mentioning the British Harpsichord Society in programme notes; sending contributions to the Newsletter; making suggestions for the website; letting us know of events; advising us of other relevant harpsichord information, weblinks, resources (harpsichord images without copyright or with permission are very much appreciated); and spreading the word to contacts with harpsichord interests. We are always grateful for feedback: please use any of the email links.
The British Harpsichord Society is not in a position to pay anybody, but voluntary help is highly valued and will be publicly acknowledged, or not as you wish.
