Harpsichord under Glass?
Synopsis
\u201cAre people still writing concertos for harpsichord?\u201d you ask. Well, today, we have an answer, which is \u201cYes!\u201d
On today\u2019s date in 2002, this new Concerto for Harpsichord and Chamber Orchestra by Philip Glass had its premiere performance at Benaroya Hall in Seattle. Glass was asked to write a new Harpsichord Concerto for the Northwest Chamber Orchestra and says he found the commission intriguing.
\u201cFor one, I have always been an admirer of the literature for harpsichord and have played a bit it myself,\u201d Glass wrote. \u201cSecondly, I knew that the modern-day harpsichord was capable of a fuller, more robust sound than was available in \u2018period\u2019 instruments and might make a handsome partner to a modern chamber orchestra.\u201d
Glass\u2019 concerto is in the traditional three movements of a Baroque era concerto, with a slower, more lyrical middle movement flanked by speedier, flashier outer movements.
And perhaps surprisingly for a \u201cminimalist\u201d composer famous \u2014 or infamous \u2014 for his loping, seemingly endless repeated patterns, this Harpsichord Concerto, despite being recognizably a work by Philip Glass, is more varied and mercurial than usual, with a final movement in which the harpsichord soloist really needs to \u201cgo for Baroque!\u201d
Music Played in Today's Program
Philip Glass (b. 1937): Concerto for Harpsichord and Chamber Orchestra; Christopher D. Lewis, harpsichord; West Side Chamber Orchestra/Kevin Mallon; Naxos 8.573146