I find the sound of most harpsichord recordings--not only Landowska's--
to be very fatiguing to the ear, So up close, in your face, that one can
sympathize with Beecham's description of the harpsichord as the sound of
two skeletons copulating on a tin roof.

I recently had occasion to visit a store in Chagrin Fall, OH, that
sold harpsichords and older (antique?) pianos and listened to several
of them being played by store personnel.  The sounds were delicious --
appropriately loud for the room and plenty of air around the notes.
A lovely delicate, plangent sound that was engratiating not grating.

Is the problem perhaps in the way the instrument is being recorded? To
get maximum signal to noise ratio, it seems they just about stick the
microphones into the instrument.  How about pulling back and getting a
natural room ambience effect? And then not playing the recording at ear
splitting level.  But I think if room ambience were captured better, there
would little need to crank up the dial.

It seems to me that many/most modern piano recordings, esp.  since the
digital age, have that too-close clangy sound.  The best piano recordings
were and are made by Connoisseur Society where you get a close sound that
somehow has air mixed with it to give a realistic perspective and full
round tone that clearly defines the instrument.  I really recommend all
the Ivan Moravec recordings made in the 60s and 70s and any others of that
era including the extraordinary Ali Akbar Khan recordings of ragas on the
sarod.  They show that the ART of recording has not advanced since then.

A final observation:  I wonder whether today's instruments -- especially
Steinways -- are more percussive and "brilliant" than the previous
generation of instruments.  I have found myself somewhat disappointed by
recent soloists with the Cleveland orchestra, in terms of piano sound.
They all sound glassy, percussive and top heavily brilliant.  Now I wonder
if they are at the mercy of the piano.  My recordings of great pianists of
the past show them to be capable of legato effects and mellow sounds where
the music demands.  (Horowitz's super-clarity is the exception -- he always
had his piano specially tuned for that spiky effect, I am told, and he was
sufficiently different from the others to stand out as such in his piano
sound.) A little haze and blend is sometimes very effective.  The mellow
sounds of Solomon or Lipatti can't be blamed on the failings of recording
techniques of the time.

Is this me or is it Memorex?  Comments?

Eric Kisch