Evening star., 1954-11-28
News Of Music
News OF Music
Kirkpatrick to Present
Horpsichord Recital
By Day Thorpe

.fH,''"'7 '7
The announcement by the
Library Of Congress that Ralph
Kirkpatrick will give a solo
harpsichord recital Friday will
fall on few deaf ears.
The rest of the country and
the world knows Mr.. Kirkpat-
rick as a soloist playing Scar
latti sonatas and the Goldberg
Variations-his program this
week-but. although he is a
familiar figure in Washington,
he is known here primarily in
chamber music and as soloist
In Bach and Mozart concertos.
No one, certainly not the ar
tist himself. would say that
Washington has gotten the
short end of the horn In this
regard. but to the average lover
Of the harpsichord, the instru-
nent means first the Goldberg
Variations, by far the most
popular keyboard work Of
Bach, and then the sonatas Of
Scarlatti.
Popularity Is Apparent
The present reincarnation Of
the harpsichord In America,
and it's acceptance not as a
curiosity but as an instrument
for which there is no substi-
tute. either as solo performer
or as continue instrument, can
be seen not only in the concert
halls Of the big cities, but even
more clearly in phonograph
record catalogs, where per-
forInances of 17th and early
18th century music have al
most entirely discarded the
piano. There are fifteen or
twenty manufacturers of harp
sichords in full production: Of
the American makers, John
Challis, the most eminent. will
accept orders only for delivery
four years hence.
That Germany is after the
American market is clear, for
while Neupert, the leading
maker in that country does
not, so far as I know, adver-
tie an Atomic Action" it
does equip it's latest models
with "OK" jacks.
Not His Fovorite Instrument
The harpsichord is not Mr..
Kirkpatrick's only, or, in a
manner of speaking, even his
favorite instrument. He also
gives recitals on a reconstruc-
ton Of an 18th century piano,
and on a clavichord. He has
been known to express a desire
to play the organ, and he
probably will some day when
he finds both the instrument
and the occasion.
The clavichord, a delicate
instrument, the strings Of
which are simultaneously
struck and stopped by small
brass stips, has so limited a
capacity for volume Of sound
that 1t is entirely uneconomic
for a professional artist to at
tempt to give recitals in q room
small enough to be salts
factory.
In no other keyboard instru-
ment, however, does Mr.. Kirk
patrick believe one can find so
intimate and expressive a me-
dium of self-expression. Vol
ume and timbre are both still
to a certain extent under the
control of the performer after
the note Is struck-an advan-
tage the clavichord does not
share with harpsichord or
piano.
Contoins All of Boch
The Goldberg Variations are
the fourth and final part Of
the Clavierubung, the great
collection of keyboard pieces
that contains almost all the
music of Bach published dur
ing the lifetime Of the COM
poser.
In the Clavierubung, Bach
Systematically exploits all the
devices, both instrumental and
musical, that were in his day
available to a composer for
harpsichord, clavichord, or
organ.
After his very earliest years
as a. composer, Bach did not
often write in the variation
form, but in the 80 Goldberg
variations, an achievement Of
his full maturity, he accom-
plished a piece that for for
NAL perfection and emotional
splendor has seldom been
equaled and never surpassed.
Champion Of SeorIotti Works
Like the Goldberg Varia-
tions, which have been the