Jacquet de la Guerre: Harpsichord Suites 1-6.

JACQUET DE LA GUERRE: Harpsichord Suites 1-6 Elisabeth Farr--Naxos 557654 [2CD] 142 minutes

An odd note on the final page of the liner notes alerts us to one of this release's most interesting aspects: Farr, who teaches at the University of Colorado Boulder, performs on a Keith Hill harpsichord, which she chose "because its sound was made to support the lute-like improvisatory playing style you hear in this recording". Now that I hear the release I understand what this vague phrase means: Farr employs a technique where the right hand is often not coordinated with the left, a technique known by some harpsichordists as "staggering". Its purpose, as I understand it, is to allow listeners to perceive separate contrapuntal lines rather than one chord after another. It also helps to compensate for harpsichordists' inability to make one line louder than another, as pianists can do. Clearly, Farr, or Naxos's producers, or both, feel the technique is so unusual that it's necessary to explain it. And it's true that Farr uses it extensively.

Usually I wouldn't complain about this, because harpsichordists hardly ever use enough of it. But Farr employs it so often that she actually impedes the lilting phrases so peculiar to French Baroque music--the courantes are ...