Playing with a harpsichord

[kerioboe]

I have just had my first experience of playing a Vivaldi oboe sonata accompanied by a harpsichord instead of a piano and I really enjoyed it

Whereas the piano was wishy-washy (and too loud), the harpsichord had a crispness which allowed the oboe to sing over the top.

[anacrusis]

join the club, it's a select one. Does your accompanist play the harpsichord regularly, or just now and again? The sound really does help to support what you are trying to do with your articulation, I'm sure - certainly that's what I've found.

[kerioboe]

The accompanist was only my oboe teacher and I have no idea if he plays the harpsichord regularly or if he ever studied it (I didn't think to ask). I do know that he did joint first study piano and oboe until his final year at a Conservatoire and whether the piano part of the course included anything on harpsichord technique I have no idea.

We played the piece first with the piano and I found it very off-putting. It was the first slow movement of the Vivaldi oboe sonata in C minor and the piano part has dotted quavers and semi-quavers and the oboe part everything but. After about the third attempt, I found I could only play in time if I shut the piano out completely and tried to prented it wasn't there. That's when he said, "let's go and try it on the harpsichord, you'll see it's completely different." And it was It was suddenly obvious where the beat fell and it didn't feel like I was having to fight to get myself heard, instead there were two voices intertwining - I think I could was lyrical for hours about what a wonderful experience it was

Then he suggested I have a go at the second allegro movement which I had barely looked at. He said the harpsichord would provide a stimulus and it certainly did. Although my fingers didn't really know what they were supposed to be doing, and lots of the notes were rather fluffed somehow the precision of the harpsichord meant I did keep going and at a much faster tempo than I would have chosen if left to my own devices.

I can't wait to do it again.

[anacrusis]

that sounds like a fantastic experience to have had - I know that I've always loved playing baroque music with a harpsichord accompaniment because of the clarity of the sound. I have come across pianists who can pull off the baroque idiom on a piano, but it still really needs the lid to be down, when accompanying the recorder, and my guess is that even the more assertive oboe won't be able to do subtle baroque stuff if faced with a romantic piano technique...

next step - a viola da gamba or baroque cello for the rest of the continuo

[jod]

The other continuo instrument I like working with is chamber organ, particularly if it is not equally tempered.

However as my instrument is voice, this gives me the flexibility to subtly retune and enjoy how each key feels different.

Singing Purcell's Blessed Virgin's Expostulation at A=415 with such an instrument has had to be one of the most enjoyable singing experiences I have had. The "fatal change" had such gravitas.

[kerioboe]

Jun 5, 2008 22:00:28 GMT anacrusis said:

next step - a viola da gamba or baroque cello for the rest of the continuo

And a baroque oboe as well?

I will be getting some overtime pay next month ....

[anacrusis]

Ooh yes, a baroque oboe...after getting a little job playing for about two minutes of a two-and-a-half-hour Handel opera a couple of years ago, I'd wondered about getting one and learning to play it - the forked fingerings wouldn't be any trouble, and I never did progress to particularly hard reeds on the modern oboe anyway. The sticking point would have been reed-making though - I'd never learned to make them when learning modern oboe, and would have difficulty finding someone to teach me how to do baroque ones.

You need less pressure to play a baroque oboe, too .

And yes, chamber organs are wonderful continuo instruments, as are theorboes and lutes...

[kerioboe]

The Early Music Shop sells baroque oboe reeds by mail-order (although I can't actually see them on their web site and I think they might make them to order).