Cowboy Junkies - Black Eyed Man
Qobuz
16/44.1
Favourite track: This street,that man,this life. Hits me every time.
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Harpsichord and interpretation of Couperin!
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I do believe I have that CD in my collection 
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I love this album!!
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Jonathan, should this be in the new What’s Spinning July 2026 thread?
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“Harpsichord and interpretation of Couperin!
”
There are some harpsichord lovers here? I get the impression we are few, in society generally not just in this forum. I’ve been debating going to a Louis Couperin recital at the Wigmore Hall later this month - it would be a first for me - but I don’t live in London and it would be fun to have a companion. I travel enough on my own as it is. My musical friends rather turn up their noses at the instrument. It’s their loss.
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If I was able to I would have accompanied you. Sadly the travel defeats me these days.
If your experience of the harpsichord is via records then you may be surprised how quiet it is.
I am jealous - I love Wigmore Hall.
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Well it depends. I own a 1953 Dolmetsch which is huge and heavy and quite loud.
I also have at work a 1960s Neupert which is even louder.
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Excellent. I bow to those with the talent to play. I should have said that I was mentally comparing the harpsichord with a Steinway model D piano which is the normal fare at Wigmore Hall.
The last time I heard harpsichord live was the O.A.E playing Brandenburg 5 ( not at Wigmore) and the cadenza was sonically much quieter than one may be used to on record with the close microphone technique usually employed.
Perhaps you should be Sebastian rather than Ludwig 
?
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Moderat
Moderat
Electronica/Club-Dance/Experimental
BPitch Control - 2009
16/44.1 - DR: 9dB
Preferred track: 1. A New Error
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Jimmy Chamberlin Complex
Life Begins Again
Alternative-Rock/Prog-Rock/Jazz
Sanctuary - 2005
16/44.1 - DR: 6dB
Preferred track:
4. Loki Cat (feat. Billy Corgan)
First solo album from Smashing Pumpkins historical drummer Jimmy Chamberlin!
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Just to remind people not to post in this thread anymore ( unless they want to comment on a previous post). This thread is for June 2026. We are now in July. There is now a July thread.
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It’s all relative of course. A Steinway D is a whole different ball game. (I have a C at home and a D and a B at work.)
Now onto the July thread.
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I know we are in July, but this is an interesting exchange, for a number of reasons. So I continue… First, I’m sorry you can’t travel Pete. Not even with assistance? That must be disappointing. The harpsichord I’ve heard in person was fairly quiet, as you say, but on the other hand it also seemed quite small and easy to move on and off stage. Not true of them all! On CD the instruments Christophe Rousset plays have a solid and even rich sound. I assume not all of that can be the recording.
That brings me back to the Wigmore Hall. I’ve read that it has good sound. Most of my very limited experience of live classical music (instrumental ensembles) has been either in small spaces such as converted chapels or in churches of various sizes. For very different reasons their sound is often quite unsatisfactory judged from a hi-fi perspective. I wondered how much this is typical until I heard a string quartet at the Salle Cortot in Paris. The sound was exceptional there, and really made the whole experience more enjoyable. A quick search on Google shows that it does have a very good reputation. I enjoyed the Salle Gaveau too which, judging from photos, is roughly equivalent to the Wigmore Hall in size and layout. Who else here has experience of these places? (@AndrewS, you must have spent quite a lot of time in Paris as you were able to identify where Michel Legrand was standing in that album cover photo from the late 1950s. Have you been these venues?)
So, how much is sound quality “a thing” for average listeners to live classical music? I’ve read about a few famous concert halls with notably good or bad acoustics but that is about all.