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The Pleyel Harpsichord

Roger Heagney plays one of the last harpsichords (made in 1963) by the French Pleyel piano company, which was founded in 1807 and continued to make pianos until its doors were closed for the last time in 2014. The Pleyel ‘Concert Grand Harpsichord’ has a unique sound and variety of colours controlled by a set of seven pedals.

Known as the Grande Modèle Concert, this harpsichord has the date of manufacture on its keyboards of 14 August 1963. The old French piano making companies of Pleyel and Erard, exhibited three harpsichords, loosely based on a surviving Pascal Taskin harpsichord, at the Paris exhibition of 1889. So began the harpsichord's rebirth after almost one hundred years of neglect. Serendipitously, there was an increasing public interest in the performance of ‘music of the past’, so it was surely a timely renaissance.

The Pleyel harpsichord has been described as the ultimate achievement of the piano-maker’s art. Piano-like it may have been, but it was undeniably a harpsichord. It has been estimated that, over the next fifty years, Pleyel made as many as eighty such harpsichords.

Artist

Roger Heagney

Heagney has gained an international reputation as pianist and harpsichordist. He lectures at the Australian Catholic University and performs regularly with The Academy of Melbourne and Pro Arte Orchestras and at the Melbourne International Festival of Organ and Harpsichord.


Track Listing

    Suite in A major George Frideric Handel

  1. Präludium
  2. Allemande
  3. Courante
  4. Gigue

    5. Prelude en D la re sol Nicolas Le Bègue

  5. Prelude
  6. Allemande
  7. Courante - grave
  8. Courante - gaye
  9. Sarbande
  10. Gavotte
  11. Chaconne - grave
  12. Les Baricades Mistérieuses (Sixième Ordre) François Couperin
  13. Passacaille (Huitième Ordre) François Couperin

    14. Sonata in C minor Baldassare Galuppi

  14. Largetto
  15. Allegro

    16. Sonata in C major Baldassare Galuppi

  16. Andante
  17. Allegro

Performers

Composers

George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, and concertos. Handel's music was well known to such later composers as Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.

Nicolas Le Bègue

François Couperin

Couperin belonged to a family of several composers from the mid-17th to mid-19th centuries. He was organist in the chapel of Louis XIV at Versailles, and was the greatest French master of the harpsichord.

Baldassare Galuppi

Baldassare Galuppi (18 October 1706 – 3 January 1785) was an Italian composer, born on the island of Burano in the Venetian Republic. He achieved international success, spending periods of his career in London and Saint Petersburg, but his main base remained Venice, where he held a succession of leading appointments.


Where to buy

The Pleyel Harpsichord is available for download from the iTunes Music Store.
It's available for streaming through Apple Music.

The Pleyel Harpsichord is available as as CD. It can be purchased online through Buywell Music or the Australian Music Centre which both offer secure online ordering.

Move CDs can be ordered through music retailers across Australia including Readings.

Product details

List price
$20.00 AUD
Release date
March 2018
Copyright
© 2018 Move Records
Phonogram
℗ 2018 Move Records
Category
Baroque
Catalogue number
MD 3428
Alternate catalogue number
MD3428
Barcode
EAN 9314574342826