Harpsichord under Glass?

Composers Datebook

Synopsis

“Are people still writing concertos for harpsichord?” you ask. Well, today, we have an answer, which is “Yes!”

On today’s date in 2002, this new Concerto for Harpsichord and Chamber Orchestra by Philip Glass had its premiere performance at Benaroya Hall in Seattle. Glass was asked to write a new Harpsichord Concerto for the Northwest Chamber Orchestra and says he found the commission intriguing.

“For one, I have always been an admirer of the literature for harpsichord and have played a bit it myself,” Glass wrote. “Secondly, I knew that the modern-day harpsichord was capable of a fuller, more robust sound than was available in ‘period’ instruments and might make a handsome partner to a modern chamber orchestra.”

Glass’ concerto is in the traditional three movements of a Baroque era concerto, with a slower, more lyrical middle movement flanked by speedier, flashier outer movements.

And perhaps surprisingly for a “minimalist” composer famous — or infamous — for his loping, seemingly endless repeated patterns, this Harpsichord Concerto, despite being recognizably a work by Philip Glass, is more varied and mercurial than usual, with a final movement in which the harpsichord soloist really needs to “go for Baroque!”

Music Played in Today's Program

Philip Glass (b. 1937): Concerto for Harpsichord and Chamber Orchestra; Christopher D. Lewis, harpsichord; West Side Chamber Orchestra/Kevin Mallon; Naxos 8.573146