Search - Jory Vinikour :: Jory Vinikour in Concert

Vinikour's Playing Fresh & Spontaneous

Richard Roundtree | 01/02/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Jory Vinikour's playing puts him in a league not shared by many other musicians. He moves with equal ease from Byrd to Bach to Poulenc, although this set features the works of Bach, Scarlatti, Handel, F. & L. Couperin and Rameau.



Vinikour plays upon two harpsichords made by Cucchiara & Pierce. His subtle use of the machine stop on the English-style instrument is breath-taking in the dramatically rhapsodic Chromatic Fantasia. Vinikour never allows this remarkable device to upstage the piece itself, however. His extraordinary technique and individuality as an interpreter always reign supreme, causing one to hear this celebrated piece as if for the first time.



The second instrument is patterned after French models by Blanchet. However, it is equipped with a peau de buffle and a lute register; the latter appearing only rarely in antique French harpsichords. Both registers are used to extraordinary effect. Brace yourself for the most sensuous and singing harpsichord sonority you're likely to hear, especially in the Tombeau de Mr Blancrocher which is played solely on the peau de buffle register. The sound simply pours out of the instrument to astonishing effect, and Vinikour is in complete control of this magnificent resonance.



Rameau also receives a fresh, spontaneous reading in this two-CD set. Les Trois Mains, L'Entretien des Muses and Les Niais de Sologne are immediate winners. Francois Couperin's Le Tic Tic Choc is as fresh a reading one is likely to hear.......ever!



Although the programme features repertoire recorded many times by other great players, Vinikour's is not merely another addition to an already large discography of well-known standards. Rather, it is a stunning, highly musical and spontaneous technical tour de force which is heard rarely nowadays. This recording--as ALL recordings by Jory Vinikour--ought to be on the shelf of every connoisseur and lover of great keyboard playing."