15 December 2007

Farnaby Prelude on Lautenclavier


On February 4, 2005 I played a duo-recital with Gottfried von der Goltz, leader of the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and Professor of Violin and Baroque Violin at the Musikhochschule Freiburg, on the theme "Fantasia". I included a set of Giles Farnaby pieces performed on a lautenclavier (a harpsichord with gut strings) by Keith Hill (1993).

Here a short Prelude in C Major:

12 December 2007

On the Sunny Side of the Street

Not strictly a live performance -- I took advantage of a short break during a studio recording in 2006 to try a solo piano version (on a 1930s Bechstein) of this classic.

06 December 2007

J. S. Bach: Italian Concerto BWV 971: Andante

From my harpsichord recital in the Anna-Kirche during the Aachener Bachtage in Aachen in November 2005, the Andante.
Harpsichord by Keith Hill, 1997, after P. Taskin, 1769

03 December 2007

Jean Louis Adam: A Tribute



Today is the 249th anniversary of the birth of Jean Louis Adam, an important figure in the establishment of the piano in the conservatory curriculum. Eclipsed in fame by his son, the composer Adolphe Adam, J. L. Adam (1758-1848) was highly respected in his own time, not the least for his Méthode de Piano du Conservatoire (Paris, 1805).


Here, in a concert from 2005, his Romance from the Méthode. I played my Cristofori-model fortepiano (K. Hill, 1999) for this performance, using the "una corda" stop, a sliding keyboard mechanism normally only used for tuning purposes, but which creates a distinctive, not to say magical, timbre.