Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), Wednesday 25 September 1963, page 7


WORTH HEARING

Hosie for three and foor harpsichords

Jl^ CONCERTO for four harpsichords and orchestra is not such a

freakish idea as it may appear at first sight; in fact, the most famous example of a four-harpsichord concerto was devised by Bach himself.

It must be remembered that in the 18th century, when Bach wrote, musicians delighted in experimenting with unusual combinations of instruments, especially when writing concertos.

Bach's four-harpsichord concerto is not entirely an original com-pel, ion, but a free arrangement of a concerto for four violins by his »lightly older contemporary Vivaldi; the four harpsichords playing together make a truly exciting and glittering sound that can be heard in a retord of multiple-harpsichord music issued by the World Record dob.

The soloists include two Australians, Eileen Joyce and Denis Vaughan; the others are Thurston Dart and George Malcolm. They are accom-panied by the Pro Arte Orchestra, conducted by Boris Ord.

The disc also carries Bach's three-harpsichord concerto in C major and two modern experiments in writing for four harpsichords

One of these is a concerto transcribed from another of Vivaldi's con-certos by Thurston Dart, one of the world's chief authorities on the per-formance of older music. The other is a set of variations on a theme by Mozart, composed by George Malcolm.

- Martin Long