José Iturbi plays Rameau on Harpsichord

[paulostroff99]

TY Hofman1895 for posting this lovely music.

[zzindorf]

He and Landowska were apparently both double-jointed.

[marcxopoco]

I had no idea Iturbi studied with Landowska. Very interesting.

[marcxopoco]

The harpsichord is played with very curled fingers.

14001 must do a lot of harm as a teacher.

[RainerPoppe]

"Man, it looks like a piano, and sounds like a cembalo..., wahnsinn!"

Tempel of Yerushalem

[metteholm75]

Watching Landowskas "claws" makes one think "Ouch!", - but she did allright, as we know. What hurts and destroys one can be absolutely without problems for another.

[keepitacrime]

dracula!

[hifijohn]

beautiful playing it ashame the sound is so garbled

[vicenteaboites]

In the mid seventies I had the opportunity to listen to José Iturbi in Guanajuato, Mexico. I was a child and he made a deep impression on me. Thanks for this clip!

[mrmolinodelahoz]

Iturbi, having been a great pianist. He played the score of a Song to Remember.

One could wish he left off playing the harpsichord while he was still ahead.

There are some things in the past that are best forgotten.

[1401JSC]

I have a little girl piano pupil who curls up her fingers like this.

It makes me stressed to see such muscular tension for nothing.

However, José is plaing brilliantly. Maybe I should stopasking the little girn not to do that....

[Hofman1895]

You can even make a fist without muscular tension, so the form of the fingers has nothing to do with tension.

[stolendata]

it takes no muscular tension to curl one's fingers like that

[tunglour]

@1401JSC How can she play forte like that? My fingers hurt when I try to play like that... Does she play with her fingernails?

[reinpost]

@1401JSC perhaps she should switch to the harpsichord then - I was taught to always do that

[CardinalPugwash]

@1401JSC You are meant to curl your fingers like that when you play the harpsichord.

The harpsichord is not the piano. The harpsichord requires a difference style of touch.

[crybanshee]

@1401JSC Please do not do such thing. The basic piano hand position is not this one, and in works from Beethoven on, it will NOT work at all. The only reason this works is because it promotes a "touché" appropriate to this harpsichord. However, if you see an authenticist harpsichord performer, his hand position will have nothing to do with Iturbi's or Landowska's. Therefore, I do not know to what extent this "curled" position is a physical demand of the instrument.

[crybanshee]

Either way, just because brilliant players like Iturbi or Landowska can do it, it doesn't mean that this position fits to everyone. The basic piano hand position, "roof-like", is the one that should be teached when on a piano. This is my opinion, anyway.

[williejax2]

i believe this instrument is one made by the firm Pleyel. Wanda Landowska used such an instrument, as did Sylvia Marlowe.

[chriswales19]

Ageed it looks and sounds like an early Pleyel.

[Phorquieu]

Iturbi makes it look so easy, but I am not fooled. M. Rameau was a genius, and Iturbi is a true artist. Art can hardly be more expressive than this.

[kotraquin]

i can listen to this instrument for hours on end

[beautyamsonia]

It is rare to see this type of harpsicord!

Actually this is the first time I see it.

Tank you Hofman for uploading this video!

[lichtbroeder]

Revival harpsichords were built using piano technology and were never intended to be "authentic" period instruments. Still, they sparked an interest in the harpsichord music, and many modern makers do build instruments in the traditional way.

[robotnik77]

Great to see Iturbi again.

[Freakid1494]

And......¿How did you got this? O_O

[Hofman1895]

A 16mm film from 1940.

[Freakid1494]

It's amazing how does this has survived the years, it's weird too. Well thank you for the reply.

[Connie0755]

@Hofman1895 Ok, one has to take into account that was the very period when we all thought Baroque was to be played "romantically", but still, that's no good to me (I have worked so much on the Rameau suites that I see exactly the typical mistakes he makes... Maybe he helps us measure the distance with what we have now, like Scott Ross, or Olivier Baumont... or even William Christie playing Rameau (methinks he is the best)

[Connie0755]

@Freakid1494 You mean playing Rameau as badly as he does? Well he plays too fast, he had better give a try at Chopin!

[gkertsopoulos]

Excellent, 5***** and a favorite, keep well, Yorgos

[stolendata]

such finesse

[hardcorechicano]

wow!

[thegreatwhales]

yo i'm doing a report omn a harpsicord

[TheBlackPage1]

yaah, harpsichords rock

[jewish1972]

i like harpsichord much more than piano. Yet this one, maybe its for the recording, sounds very low

[jella11]

where was he from? i know he resided in france at that time but he doesn't really sound french...also, there's a supposed quote of him in the video description wich is in dutch? so could it be he was dutch? just curious

[Hofman1895]

Hi, he was born in Valencia, Spain, he went to Paris to study at the Conservatory there when he was 14, after a few years when WW1 broke out he moved home again and a bit later to Geneva, again to Paris and much later to the States.

The Dutch line is not a quote but the title of my book about Iturbi's life and pianotechnique. Dagmar

[jella11]

ah, thank you, of dank u, daar u waarschijnlijk nederlands of vlaams bent.

had ik moeten weten van die "citaat". geweldige video

[MrBertstown]

I heard the lute-like sound on a harpsichord on The Rolling Stone's "In Another Land", Traffic's "No Face No Name No Number", and The Door's "Soft Parade".

[partack1]

WOW

[postwarswede]

When creating a note, the hammer of the harpsichord doesn´t beat the string in the way a piano does, but instead snaps it, by means of a metal nail construction. In other words, it is a mechanized multi-snap instrument, a kind of "multi-guitar". Fantastic !

[wolfgang7445]

Postwarswede is full of shit. "Multi snap" what a fool

[grantco131313]

Actually it plucks the string like a guitar with a little plectrum....

[aeturnus71]

Bravo!

[enantiodrom]

incantevole

[Pepinoli]

I didn't know clavichord had also pedals, I thought that was only in piano

[bertiethetoupee4]

Well, this is a harpsichord, but the pedals function differently. On a harpsichord you often find stops instead of pedals, but I guess it's just down to design

[Pianoman1770]

WOAH!! what kinda harpsichord is that?!

[ukraniandancer55]

a french harpsichord

[Pianoman1770]

ooooooooooooooooooooh lol

ive never seen a french harpsichord like that!

[Bullerias]

Wonderful video. I know nothing of the harpsichord but find it the most fascinating of all the classical music instruments. The sound is very distinctive.

[Trabantino]

Beautiful video. The harpsichord was made by the French manufacturer PLEYEL,and had a metallic frame!

[tiroirdelmare]

Coool! Thanks for posting this!

[mishagrey]

He plays with his fingers curled up, like Horowitz...

[LarkinFarkin]

He recieved lessons from Wanda Landowska. That´s the reason for his fingers position. I remembered that he also received the highest note in his studies from Fauré.

[Hofman1895]

Quite the opposite, the trademark of Horowitz was playing with very flat fingers. Although he sometimes made use curved fingers.

[HaparukuU]

I was about to write that myself, but then I realized that what mishagrey was referring to was when Horowitz played Scarlatti (he had his fingers curled up then.)

[Hofman1895]

I just watched a few Scarlatti sonatas on the 'Horowitz in Moscow' DVD, and he also plays them with flat fingers. But I've seen him play sometimes with very curled fingers in some passages in other pieces, it would be interesting to know what kind of sound he produced with it. I'll have to look into that. Horowitz himself insisted on playing with the whole finger phalanx and not only with the fingertip.

[devnation]

Truly enchanting.

[stienwayz]

I like how he took the time to briefly go over the pedals

[Aetius1]

GREAT!!!

[sleazebee]

the assads have an awesome version of this piece as a guitar duet...this is an awesome video!!

[paulostroff99]

Enlightening!

[voidforpurpose]

Nicest and most complex harpsichord I've ever seen.

6 pedals!

Superb playing! A joy!

[musicalidea]

Absolutely...he speaks as if this is the way all harpsichords are made, lol. Never seen anything like it. I find his tempo to be a bit upspeed.

[dodiezresibemol]

Yes, he is more like a piano player. This is like a hibrid non historical harpsichord

[bertiethetoupee4]

This harpsichord is not historical to the time of Rameau but the piece works well on this later model

[hosseinhadisi]

fab video! tnx for sharing

[Alasdairo]

that is lush

[prestomoltoagitato]

that last song is called tambourine. and he handled it

[TheMarioBrothers]

Why He speaks like Super Mario? XD

I'm joking... He's absolutely wonderful!!

[zurnacia]

very true:) haha - he speaks well the language of hapsycord music! he is amazing!

[pauledunn]

Question:

Can somebody please recommend a really good harpsichord method book or something to improve at playing in the style of 17th/18th harpsichord players.  Thanks.

[lalungenuictdestens]

"L'art de Toucher le Clavecin" ;)

[philsing69]

anyone know the name "wolfgang kater" from quebec. A friend of mine I would like to hear thank you .

[Art7962]

Maestro de Maestro José Iturbi.

Bravo!

[zzzxtreme]

wanda Landowska, wasn't she an organist too?

[Renshen1957]

Although Wanda Landowska recorded Mozart on the Piano, she is best remembered for her performances, teaching, recordings and writings which played a large role in reviving the popularity of the harpsichord. She was the first person to record Bach's Goldberg Variations on the harpsichord (1931).

revival of the Harpsichord.

[jewish1972]

this Iturbi must will be a pianist, but he plays harpsichord harpsichorly.

[zhjiln]

too bad sound quality of video isnt better

[wandalewlandowska]

Fabulous player and exponent of the Pleyel harpsichord. Does anyone know from where was this excerpt taken? I would love to hear and see more.

[Hofman1895]

The four fragments with Iturbi playing Rameau, Liszt, Chopin and Albeniz come from two short-films he made in the early 40's. You can only find them on 16mm films. I bought them on e-bay and let someone put them on DVD for me. The original quality is much better, but I had to reduce it to get it on you-tube.

There's another fragment of Iturbi playing a harpsichord on "The art of José Iturbi", a VAI-DVD of performances he made for "The Bell Telephone Hour". But he only plays "Tambourin".

[fnersch]

Jose Iturbi was a fine artist. Its too bad he didnt have access to one of the fine historical replicas that are being made today.

[BLESHER]

nice jose! can barely hear it but when i do, sounds great

[OmManiPadmeOm]

I love harpsichord music.

[cancontrl]

What is Clavier then?

[patukuzunkol]

The word "Clavier" is a word of french origin that simply means "keyboard". This word is used to mean "Piano" in German. Hope this helps! ;-)

[zzzxtreme]

clavier is german for piano?

[nunocarmona]

No. Clavier stands for keyboard. But is usualy used to refer to the harpsichord

[clavichord1685]

Clavier is a generic term for keyboard.

[recitexpressif]

Hi there,

I work with a harpsichordbuilder (when I'm not studying). This is not a typical harpsichord; its sound is very different - as are the looks of it. Interesting! I wonder who built it!

Kindest regards, Roger from Holland

[Hofman1895]

It's possible that it is one of the (modern) Pleyel-harpsichords.

Pleyel built them on request of Wanda Landowska, one of the teachers of José Iturbi.

[michio]

the harpsichord is such a beautiful instument... ^^- one of my favorites :D

[BankFace]

It is nice. I played one once. The keys that are black and white on a piano was the opposite on the harpsichord I was playing and it drove me a little luney. lol But it sounds great for baroque style music.

[straypixel]

No matter how far reproduction harpsichords have developed since the filming of this, it's somewhat reassuring to see how closely Iturbi's ornamentation follows modern practice.

Very interesting find.

[MissyHolland]

What a delight to see real harpsichord playing

here on YouTube! I play it myself (a double

manual like ^ ^ ^) and this is masterful. Bravo,

dear man!

[creamofcardstv]

Your video clip is great and I've rated it as awesome. Please check out mine on some 1920's trading cards of musical instruments, including the harpsichord.

[ConnieDaEvilCow]

do ur fingers have to be like that when palyin harpsichord or is it just a habit

[MissyHolland]

And Conniedaevilcow, playing harpsichord requires softness of touch, holding the fingers close

to the keys because a hand falling from high

draws a harder sound from the string. Never

weight the fingers with the hand, rather the

hand must support the fingers, so that in

running passages, fingers are not lifted quickly,

but glide off the edge. This makes the runs clear.

[legamature]

He holds his hands like that at the piano also. The opposite of Horowitz.

[godsloved3]

he holds them under the keyboard. thats a bad habit that can lead to many hand and playing problems later.

[tuviejaespro]

the harpsichord technique it's very different from the piano technique since the harpsichord keyboard is very light and very sensible, so the attack is basically finger-only, to avoid noise and to get a fine sound

[Kalliopurania]

Das Cembalo ist ein wunderbares Instrument!

Kaum ein anderes erzeugt ähnlich unter die Haut gehende Töne.

[rhostryfan]

Excellent. I am glad I found this website.

[organpipes]

INCREDIBLE!  what crazy fingers

[ladynasdaq]

Absolutely gorgeous playing!!!

[stephenTGV]

Wonderful fluidity. Thanks for posting.

[aleiv]

Precious, lovely! Thanx! :) A shame that doesn't exist any similar with Wanda Landowska.

[pickymoon]

Very cool!

[mlktrout]

Wow! Iturbi and a harpsichord lesson -- a double whammy! Terrific addition to the Iturbi films here, thanks Hofman1895!