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.

Roger Heagney harpsichord

George Frideric Handel composer
Nicolas le Bègue composer
François Couperin composer
Baldassare Galuppi composer

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

Roger Heagney has gained an international reputation as a pianist, harpsichordist, conductor and composer giving recitals in Germany, France, England, Brunei and China, as well as festivals, radio and television in Australia.

Track Listing

Suite in A major George Frideric Handel

Präludium
Allemande
Courante
Gigue

Prelude en D la re sol Nicolas le Bègue

Prelude
Allemande
Courante - grave
Courante - gaye
Sarbande
Gavotte
Chaconne - grave
Les Baricades Mistérieuses (Sixième Ordre) François Couperin
Passacaille (Huitième Ordre) François Couperin

Sonata in C minor Baldassare Galuppi

Largetto
Allegro

Sonata in C major Baldassare Galuppi

Andante
Allegro

Performers

Roger Heagney

Composers

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.

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

Where to listen

The Pleyel Harpsichord is available for streaming through Spotify and Apple Music. It can also be purchased through the iTunes Music Store.

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