[Dixielandjazz] Gould/Goldberg variations

[Charlie Hooks]

on 10/3/02 3:54 AM, Anton Crouch at a.crouch@unsw.edu.au wrote:

> but the piece most definitely does not
> "belong" on the piano. It is specifically written for a two manual keyboard

You are dead right about that!  Could that possibly be, do you think,
because the pianoforte had not yet been invented?  You think maybe Bach,
with his inventive genius, foresaw the coming invention, considered it
against the two-manual harpsichord, and deliberately chose the latter?

I think that if Bach had somehow got wind of the piano--let alone had
actually seen and heard one--he would have fought his way to the front of
the line to buy one.

Of course, you are more knowledgeable than I, who have never heard Rosalyn
Tureck play anything at all.  You shall remain my superior by my not rushing
out to buy her just yet.

cordially,
Charlie ("poop poop, here comes...etc")