on performing ❧ 57
Furthermore, most of the literature of the harpsichord is unsuitable to a mod-
ern recital program. Our ears have become accustomed to a range of modula-
tion that far exceeds the scope of most binary forms, except perhaps those of
Scarlatti. There are only a limited number of pieces in tonally more extended
form, such as concertos, toccatas, fantasies, and fugues that can be used to
hold a harpsichord program together. Variations must be used sparingly, and
most pieces in suite form tend to weaken a program unless they are counter-
acted by pieces of a less static nature.
Except for those programs consisting only of large and independent pieces,
the composition of the average program for a harpsichord recital is of primary
importance. In forty years of playing, I have never been able in performance to
correct the weaknesses of a poorly made program. Assembling an all-Scarlatti
program, for example, demands the greatest care in the selection and arrange-
ment of pieces. For that matter, the same care is required in forming even a
single group of Scarlatti sonatas.
My early experiences with trying to salvage bad programs in performance
have taught me never to send out a program until I have tried it out for pac-
ing, for tonal relationships or their deliberate infraction, for variety, and above
all, for the achievement of a completely integrated form as a whole. I level at it
every hostile criticism that I can think of until I can no longer detect any weak-
ness. Needless to say, my calculations are not always correct, and I often fi nd it
safer to try out a new program gradually by making successive alterations in an
old one. Since programs are often demanded more than a year in advance, it
is hard to predict in the course of one season what one will feel like playing in
the next, and it is often easier to let programs evolve by gradual and cautious
modifi cation than to take the risk of sending out an entirely new program that
has not yet proved itself.
I began with a good memory and, until recently, I quickly and automati-
cally memorized almost anything that I touched. I never learned any of the
techniques to which those of less facile memory are obliged to resort and now,
when I memorize works, I need to take precautions which formerly were totally
unnecessary. Forced memorization or memorization for only one or two per-
formances does not stick well with me. But those works that have been rein-
forced by numerous performances can hardly be dislodged. I have often been
able to take up a work of which I have not seen the score for ten years or more.
There may be gaps on the fi rst playing through, but they usually soon fi ll them-
selves in and the interpretation needs only to be brought up to date in order to
make it correspond with what I myself have since become.
I have never been very successful in memorizing away from an instrument.
I am always in danger of setting up a barrier between my consciousness of the
music and the physical reactions and gestures necessary to play it. Away from
an instrument, I can accomplish certain preliminaries of memorization. Above
KKirkpatrick.indd 57irkpatrick.indd 57 2/8/2017 9:57:03 AM 2 / 8 / 2017 9 : 57 : 03 AM
rick simeone
(Rick Simeone)
#1