SKU: PR.110418390

ISBN 9781491134603. UPC: 680160685158.

Eric Ewazen’s THREE INVENTIONS were inspired by Bach’s Two-part Inventions, yet they sound thoroughly like Ewazen. Composed for harpsichord (with a piano adaptation following later), Ewazen’s inventions maintain a pure “one note per hand” texture until their final chord, with strong-but-free imitative counterpoint between the two voices. While Ewazen may be best known for his wind music, he is a pianist himself, and composers’ works for their own instrument are a direct insight into how they write for their own performances. The piano adaptation of THREE INVENTIONS is also available as a separate publication.
THREE INVENTIONS was written for my dear friend Maria Rojas, who premiered the work on a faculty recital at Juilliard. Maria is both a pianist and a harpsichordist, and I first met her when she gave a demonstration of the harpsichord for the students in my theory classes.I’ve always been captivated by Bach’s series of Two-Part and Three-Part Inventions. With the Two-Part Inventions, I’m amazed how Bach could create such wonderful intricacy and counterpoint with only two voices. I consequently modeled my inventions after the counterpoint of Bach, involving the traditional contrapuntal devices he used: imitation, development, harmonic and modal shifts, fragmentation, and sequence, essentially creating a dialog between two completely equal voices conversing with each other!Bach wrote 15 Two-Part Inventions (as well as 15 Three-Part Inventions, not to mention the 48 preludes and fugues in The Well-Tempered Clavier!), and that’s just the start of his voluminous repertoire for the keyboard! I was happy just to write three!!!Each of my inventions has a distinctive mood. The first is in a relaxed, yet cheerful C Major tonality (as a nod to Bach’s Invention No. 1 in C Major); the second is heartfelt and lyrical; and the third invention (involving a Gigue rhythm in the compound meter of 12/8) is energetic, and full of life and spontaneity. The third is primarily in a minor tonality, resulting in a feeling of drama, bringing the THREE INVENTIONS to an exciting finale.

SKU: HL.48188975

UPC: 888680948825. 9x12 inches. French.

?Richard Siegel won prizes for the Harpsichord and Chamber Music at the Paris Conservatoire before going on the win first prize in the 1977 International Harpsichord Competition. He has since recorded over 30 CDs and his passion for the instrument has been apparent further in his production of Learn to Play the Harpsichord. As stated in the preface, the study of the Harpsichord has long been reserved, frequently dismissed as an 'old-fashioned' instrument. However, a recent rise in the popularity of early music has rekindled interest in it. In Learn to Play the Harpsichord Volume 2 being the second of two helpful volumes to aid student's learning and progression, Siegel enables Harpsichord beginners to learn through repertoire pieces themselves, drawn from the Keyboard masters of the Baroque period. The pupil will be guided towards an understanding of technique and style suited to the Harpsichord. Furthermore, Learn to Play the Harpsichord enables adults who learnt the instrument as a child to return to the instrument and have the instant feeling of ??music making??. andrdquo.

SKU: BT.ALHE33874

French.

Richard Siegel won prizes for the Harpsichord and Chamber Music at the Paris Conservatoire before going on the win first prize in the 1977 International Harpsichord Competition. He has since recorded over 30 CDs and his passionfor the instrument has been further apparent in his production of Apprendre Toucher le Clavecin. As stated in the preface, the study of the Harpsichord has long been reserved, frequently dismissed as an 'old-fashioned'instrument. However, a recent rise in the popularity of early music has rekindled interest in the Harpsichord. In Apprendre Toucher le Clavecin, volume 1 being the first of two helpful volumes to aid student's learning andprogression, Siegel enables Harpsichord beginners to learn through repertoire pieces themselves, drawn from the Keyboard masters of the Baroque period. The pupil will be guided towards an understanding of technique and stylesuited to the Harpsichord. Furthermore, Apprendre Toucher le Clavecin, which is accompanied by a CD, enables adults who learnt the instrument as a child to return to the instrument and have the instant feeling of making music.

SKU: HL.14023645

ISBN 9780711983281. 9.0x12.0x0.162 inches.

These three solo harpsichord pieces are a collection of recent compositions, each with an individual theme and idea. The first, The convertibility of Lute Strings, was first performed at the Purcell Room, London in 1992. The second, Tango for Tim was written in memory of a friend and composer Tim Souster, which was composed and first performed in 1994. The third piece, Elisabeth Gets Her Way, is an extended version of the cadenza which Elisabeth Chojnacka persuaded Michael Nyman to add to his Harpsichord Concerto, which includes material from the first two pieces in this album.