For her recording made
in c.1990 Barbara Harbach uses a two
manual French double model harpsichord
made by Willard Martin in 1987. The
recording gets up quite close but not
unattractively so – and not overbearingly.
There is certainly enough natural ambience
to cushion the sound. There are a number
of noteworthy features in her performance.
The Aria, with repeats, is taken slower
than one might expect, which is fine
by me, as are her tasteful ornaments
especially after the second repeat,
though one or two of her agogics do
draw attention to themselves on repeated
listening. I liked the very slight heaviness
of Variation 1, though the left hand
is rather italicised in the first Canon
at a relatively slow-ish speed. The
Fifth flows delightfully, even fingerwork
combined with great fluency, even if
her Seventh is a bit skittish and whilst
attempting to force the wit tends to
sound sticky.
I admired the Canone
all Quarta, which is subtly imaginative
and in many ways she seems to locative
the emotive heart of the work in the
Thirteenth Variation, taken at a delicate
and sedate tempo, along with feathery
articulation. There are times when I
felt her dotted rhythms (as in the Overture
No. 16) could be more forthright but
her variation and contrasting of registers
and her general sharp sighted intelligence
sees her through. She keeps the Seventh
Canon on the move and her Alle Breve
Twenty Second Variation is sinewy and
strong. About Landowska’s so-called
Black Pearl Twenty-Fifth I think Harbach
has mixed feelings. She certainly plays
it with a mixture of briskness and brusqueness
that makes one think she’s out to make
a point. I’m not sure if I’m right to
think that Harbach sees an analogue
with the Thirteenth here but her playing
is so aloof and emotively remote that
she might well – and she values the
Thirteenth much higher as a statement
of intensity and compression of feeling.
No. 28 has good inner trills and a bracing
tempo but 29 is not quite exultant enough
(and too halting in articulation). Her
Quodlibet, with its ornaments, is strangely
unexulatant and withdrawn. I’m not sure
if she’s preparing for the return of
the Aria by downplaying the more joyous
elements of it but the effect is muted,
which is a pity, as is the clipping
of the first part of the Aria da capo.
This thoughtful performance
won’t challenge those who hold strong
allegiance to such established front-runners
in the catalogue as Pinnock. Nevertheless
there are things about it that have
given me pause for constructive and
serious thought.
Jonathan Woolf
The complete
Gasparo catalogue is available
from MusicWeb
Barbara Harbach (harpsichord) 
