The harpsichord is female!
What at first seems like a daring claim in view of the male-dominated instrumental music-making practice of the Baroque and early Classical periods - and thus the instrument's heyday - turns out to be quite plausible when one looks at the programme presented by the world-renowned harpsichord virtuoso Mahan Esfahani with the Munich Chamber Orchestra. In addition to a work by the composer Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, one focus is on pieces that were composed for female instrumentalists at the time, such as Antonio Vivaldi's Violin Concerto for Anna Maria dal Violin, who was a pupil of the composer at the Venetian Ospedale della Pietà, one of those orphanages where numerous young women, including Maddalena Laura Lombardini Sirmen, were trained as virtuoso musicians in the 17th and 18th centuries. On the other hand, there are two works from the first half of the 20th century, a time in which the harpsichord experienced a renaissance in the wake of neo-classical trends, which was triggered above all by female harpsichordists. Manuel de Falla, for example, wrote his concerto for the famous harpsichordist Wanda Landowska, Bohuslav Martinů his for her pupil Marcelle de Lacour.
Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre (1665–1729)
Premier suite d-moll, aus: Les Pièces de clavessin, Premier livre (1687)
Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741)
Concerto („Per Sigra Anna Maria“) in B minor for violin, strings and basso continuo, RV 387 (1723-26)
Domenico Scarlatti (1685–1757)
Selected Harpsichord Sonatas for Maria Barbara de Bragança
Maddalena Laura Lombardini Sirmen (1745–1818)
Concerto for violin and strings from op. 3 (probably before 1768)
Manuel de Falla (1876–1946)
Concerto for harpsichord, flute, oboe, clarinet, violin and cello (c. 1923–26)
Bohuslav Martinů (1890–1959)
Concerto in G major for harpsichord and small orchestra, H. 246 (1935)
Mahan Esfahani | Harpsichord
Munich Chamber Orchestra
Yuki Kasai | Violin & Direction