The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: Get reacquainted with the harpsichord as a modern instrument through a story on National Public Radio (NPR).

By Jacob Stockinger

Harpsichord (below) or piano?

Historical or modern music?

Well, you don’t really have to choose.

Certainly one young performer sees the benefits in both. (Below is a photo of Trevor Stephenson of the Madison Bach Musicians working at his modern replica of a two-manual harpsichord that Johann Sebastian Bach used.)

But he also favors the harpsichord for various reasons, including a curious one: Annoying somebody special! 

Read the interview on National Public Radio (NPR) for yourself.

Here is a link:

http://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2015/06/12/413693373/how-to-annoy-your-dad-play-the-harpsichord

And at the bottom, in a YouTube video, listen to a trailer he did about the modernity of the harpsichord and his new recording that uses both old and new works, both Baroque and Minimalist music.