#landowska

[chic-a-gigot]

L'Art et la mode, no. 2628, vol. 58, mars 1938, Paris. Bibliothèque nationale de France

"Les Marguerites". — Robe en crêpe "Les Marguerites" garnie de Valenciennes. Afternoon gown in "Les Marguerites" crêpe trimmed with Valenciennes lace.

"Ninette". — Robe d'après-midi en "Surahpois" marine et blanc. Afternoon gown in navy blue and white "Surahpois".

Landowska. Tissus de Perrot.

Photo Georges Saad.

[clavierissimo]

Structure and Character of the Goldberg Variations

“First of all, the theme. In the Aria we must follow the bass line, that is the foundation of the whole structure, all the variations are based on it. Second, there is the magic number of three. There are 30 variations, 10 groups of three. Each group contains a brilliant virtuoso piece, a gentle character piece and a strictly polyphonic canon. The canons are presented in a sequence of increasing intervals, starting with a canon in unison and ending in a canon in ninths. In place of a canon at the tenth (Variation 30) Bach gives us a quodlibet (what pleases), combining fragments of rustic folk songs with the ground bass. Thus the three main elements are physical, emotional and intellectual.

The tonality is consistently G major, with the exception of G minor in three variations (Nos 15, 21, 25). There are several dance-inspired movements: minuet, passepied, polonaise, gigue. G major is a sunny key. Bach gives us the sensation of the joy of life, the joy of movement. We performers have to transmit this to the listeners. In the great 25th variation, which Wanda Landowska has called “The Black Pearl”, we are suddenly in the world of the Saint Matthew Passion.

After the last variation the opening Aria returns, unchanged. However we are hearing it with new ears because of the experiences of the past 70 minutes.”

- András Schiff

[hypersausage-blog1]

#JSBach #GoldbergVariations #WandaLandowska . . . . . #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylcollector #record #recordcollection #recordcollector #album #LP #musiclover #classicalmusic #bach #landowska #harpsichord #harpsichordmusic #harpsichordist #recordoftheday #photooftheday #ig_photooftheday #recordplayer #turntable

[pastdaily]

A Conversation With Wanda Landowska - 1953 - Past Daily Weekend Gallimaufry

A Conversation With Wanda Landowska – 1953 – Past Daily Weekend Gallimaufry

Wanda Landowska – Probably did the most to legitimize the Harpsichord in the early 20th century. (photo by Yousuf Karsh)

Click on the link here for Audio Player – An Interview with Wanda Landowska – 1953 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection

Bear with me this weekend, we’re all over the place musically. There’s method to the madness though. Everyone I’ve featured, from Booker Ervin to Stevie Ray Vaughan

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[homilius]

I want to know when Bach is raging and throwing a handful of sixteenths at the face of some imaginary adversary or a flaming spray of arpeggios, as he does in the Chromatic Fantasy. The goal is to attain such an identification with the composer that no more effort has to be made to understand the slightest of his intentions or to follow the subtlest fluctuations of his mind. To know what Mozart means when he writes in D major or what Bach wishes to express when he uses the key of E-flat major, we have numerous points of comparisons at our disposal among various works on which we can lean and rely and from which we can draw conclusions. A text previously unintelligible becomes clear; then I am able to realize and reconstruct it. A single look at the graphic appearance of a composition often tells me the tempo and character of that piece. But it is only when ‘scrupulous ears’—the phrase is St. Augustine’s—are in immediate contact with the center of understanding that the spark can flash. Has anyone a right to remain ignorant when he loves something? Does not love give the incentive to search, to penetrate the secret, and to break the seal of mystery? Because there is mystery for those who do not understand; only they do not know it. The seeking lover, on the contrary, realizes after each one of his discoveries how little he knows. To be an interpreter one must have visions. The richer the imagination of a musician, the more possibilities of sonority he hears. But it is not enough. He must search for means to incorporate and project these visions. In my playing I dramatize in the Greek meaning of the term drama—i.e., action.

Wanda Landowska, Notebooks (1952)

[homilius]

Today Bach's dynamism fascinates young people. But who among them takes the trouble of dismantling, one by one, the ensemble of voices, the polyphonic complex in order to plunge into each isolated voice and extract all its flavor? It seems that what appeals most to them is the dynamic bloc. This kind of dynamism can be found in a concerto of Hindemith or of Falla because their density does not stand to be disassembled; there it exists through accumulation. But Bach's dynamism is of a very different nature.

Wanda Landowska

[homilius]

Top: c. 1943 (photo Ralph Kestly) Bottom: 1951 (photo Denise Restout) Landowska, Notebooks: "The physical constitution of the hands is in close rapport with the entire being. Were not my hands predestined? I do not see myself with large and bony hands. I believe that in giving me life, God organized my being as a whole--musicality, love of polyphony, and round hands. I shall never forget the disdain with which Busoni once looked at my hands. That was before 1900. He said to me, 'With such hands you will never be able to achieve anything.' In saying that he was thinking of the current romantic repertoire that meant everything to him. Of course he knew Bach also, but through transcriptions from the organ to the piano with octaves in the bass and enlarged and multiplied chords. Although he edited The Well-Tempered Clavier, Busoni did not learn anything about Bach's own keyboard writing. Ignoring the harpsichord and its technique, how could he have guessed the predestination of my hands?"

[palcsibankschuler]

More Bach birthday celebration with Wanda Landowska. 

“Oh well, you play Bach your way and I'll play him his way.” — Landowska