Steve Schwartz about Rosalyn Tureck:

>I heard her live performance of the Goldbergs in London in the 70s - first
>half of the concert on piano, second on harpsichord.  I did not care for
>her harpsichord version, but her piano version was the best I've heard,
>including Gould, etc.  The two versions were indeed different, which I
>naturally assumed was due to the performance characteristics of the
>different instruments.

Sorry, I expressed myself unclearly there.  I didn't mean the two
performances were the same - I think, as you say, that would be very
unlikely, given the different instruments - just the repeats in each
performance.  But thanks for your recommendations - I might give her
another go and try to get that WTC or the (old) Goldberg Variations,
although I think they are very expensive.  After all, Arrau never varied
his repeats and sometimes played the music too seriously, but he had plenty
of virtues to make up for it.

By the way, is the Bach (and other harpsichord) playing of Landowska really
the ne plus ultra in imagination and eloquence that people used to think it
is? Or are her instrument and playing style just too weird and overblown to
be recommendable now-adays?

Felix Delbruck
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