José Iturbi plays Rameau on Harpsichord

José Iturbi (1895-1980) plays Rameau: Rigaudon, Musette and Tambourin on the harpsichord. (1940)
During his days in the conservatory in Paris, Iturbi studied the piano with Victor Staub and the harpsichord with Wanda Landowska.
José Iturbi, Leven en Pianotechniek:
(José Iturbi: Life and Pianotechnique)
Dagmar Uythethofken
www.eburon.nl/product_details.php?category_id=99& item_id=446

Category:

Music

Tags:

• José
• Iturbi
• Rameau
• Rigaudon
• Musette
• Tambourin
• harpsichord
• clavecin
• klavecimbel

[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.

[Freakid1494]

And......¿How did you got this? O_O

[Hofman1895]

A 16mm film from 1940.

[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

[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

[paulostroff99]

TY Hofman1895 for posting this lovely music.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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!

[reinpost]

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