# Modern harpsichord music **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 5, 2006, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-harpsichord-music/355506 "2006-05-05T04:51:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-harpsichord-music/355506/1 "2006-05-05T04:51:34Z")
Is there any modern music for the harpsichord that doesn’t use or imitate old music forms? Especially any modern-sounding harpsichord concertos? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-harpsichord-music/355506/2 "2006-05-05T12:09:03Z")
The best-known one may be Poulenc’s _Concert Champetre_. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-harpsichord-music/355506/3 "2006-05-05T13:16:44Z")
There’s a great, Stravinskyish concerto for harpsichord and flute, oboe, clarinet, violin, and cello by Manuel de Falla. [The version I have](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000003W1X), with my one-time music professor Anthony Newman on harpsichord, appears to be out of print (and is on a CD with otherwise non-harpsichord works), but is available used on Amazon. There’s another recording out there paired with harpsichord music by Martinu, which might also be up your alley, though I’m not familiar with it myself. ---
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-harpsichord-music/355506/4 "2006-05-05T14:58:35Z")
Before he passed away in the mid-80’s my composition instructor was doing A=420 pieces in modern styles for a Baroque chamber group. I’m sorry I can’t remember much more than that. The composer’s name is Eric Heckard – I don’t remember the ensemble. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-harpsichord-music/355506/5 "2006-05-05T15:10:02Z")
There are several pieces by György Ligeti that fit the bill: _Continuum_, _Passacaglia Ungharese_, and _Hungarian Rock_ come to mind. Also, Elliott Carter has a Double Concerto for Piano and Harpsichord, and a Sonata for Flute, Oboe, Cello, and Harpsichord. Also I think Bohuslav Martinů wrote a concerto for haprsichord. ---
**Author:** ![Figaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ea666f/32.png) [@Figaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Figaro)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-harpsichord-music/355506/6 "2006-05-05T15:46:51Z")
Here’s a list that includes just well-known composers. In actuality, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of modern and contemporary harpsichord works. There are a few concertos in here. **Samuel Adler:** _Sonata for harpsichord Sonata for violin & harpsichord No. 2_ **Albright, William** _4 Fancies for harpsichord_ **Andriessen, Louis** _Overture to Orpheus_ **Berio, Luciano** _Rounds_ **Berkeley, Sir Lennox** _Suite for harpsichord_ **Cowell, Henry** _Set of Four_ **Distler, Hugo** _Harpsichord Concerto, Op. 14_ **Glass, Philip** _Harpsichord Concerto_ **Goeyvaerts, Karel** _Litanie 5_ **Gorecki, Henryk** _Concerto for harpsichord_ **Gubaydulina, Sofiya** _Ritorno perpetuo_ **Harrison, Lou** _Gothic Piece_ _Harpsichord Sonata 6 Sonatas for Cembalo_ **Hovhaness, Alan** _Sonata 1 for harpsichord, Op. 306 Sonata 2, for harpsichord, Op. 318 Sonata 3 for harpsichord, Op. 336 Sonata 4 (“Daddy-long-legs”), for harpsichord, Op. 357 Sonata 5 for harpsichord, Op. 361_ **Ligeti, Gyorgy** _Continuum, for harpsichord Hungarian Rock (Chaconne), for harpsichord Passacaglia Ungherese, for harpsichord_ **Martin, Frank** _Harpsichord Concerto_ **Martinu, Bohuslav** _Harpsichord Concerto Harpsichord Sonata 2 Impromptus for harpsichord 2 Pieces for harpsichord_ **Rodrigo, Joaquin** _Preludio y ritornello_ **Rorem, Ned** _Spiders_ **Schnittke, Alfred** _3 Fragments_ **Shchedrin, Rodion Konstantinovich** _Stalin Cocktail_ **Takemitsu, Toru** _Rain Dreaming_ **Xenakis, Iannis** _Khoaï Komboï Naama_ **Young, La Monte** _Fugue for organ or harpsichord in C minor_ **Zwilich, Ellen Taaffe** _Fantasy for Harpsichord_ There’s lots more where that came from 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-harpsichord-music/355506/7 "2006-05-05T16:56:13Z")
The harpsichord enjoyed a very brief favor around 1940 in the Alec Wilder Octet (where Walter Gross, a studio musician played it), which played Wilder’s impressionistic, arranged compositions with a strong pop-jazz flavor. It was also part of the Artie Shaw Gramercy Five (where it was played by noted jazz pianist Johnny Guarnieri), which was more of a straight-ahead swing group. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-harpsichord-music/355506/8 "2006-05-05T17:06:54Z")
> [@Figaro](#): > > **Xenakis, Iannis** > _Khoaï > Komboï > Naama_ Thoroughly recommended 🙂 Also, in addition to the Schnittke mentioned, lots of his other pieces use the instrument. Although it’s often referential or in parody of older idioms, it’s certainly not anything other than 20th-century music. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-harpsichord-music/355506/9 "2006-05-05T17:09:09Z")
The thread title made me think of [George Gruntz](http://www.jazzorama.ch/archiv/jazzer/ch/ggruntz/ggruntzbioengl.html) and an album of his (_Jazz Goes Baroque_) that I bought back in the 60’s. It’s a jazz thing and until **Beware of Doug** posted about jazz, I thought it best to keep quiet. There’s also an early Henry Mancini album (_Combo!_) featuring harpsichord played by John (Johnny) Williams (yes, that John Wiliams), which is still sort of jazzy. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-harpsichord-music/355506/10 "2006-05-05T19:00:52Z")
That’s a lot more than I thought. Thank you, everyone, especially **Figaro**. ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-harpsichord-music/355506/11 "2006-05-05T21:48:57Z")
Frank Martin’s _Petite Symphonie Concertante_ uses harpsichord, although other instruments are featured too. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-harpsichord-music/355506/12 "2006-05-05T22:54:24Z")
On the rock/pop side of things, several of The Kinks’ songs\* from the mid-to-late 60’s feature harpsichord. \*titles provided upon request