SIR,—The baroque brigade are entitled to their preference for harpsi-
chord and clavichord for Bach; they are not entitled to tell the rest of us that Bach's keyboard music "cannot be played on the piano." Over-sentimentalised; rhythmically distorted performances of Bach on the piano are unfortunately common, and deserve censure; but there is no need to imitate the bad examples when we play music. Will Mr. H. H. Richard tell us what the harpsichord and clavichord can do for Bach which the piano, in the hands of a player with a sense of style, cannot ? Of course Bach did not write for " the sort of
noise which issues from a modern grand piano " ; did he want the sort of noise which issues from a modern harpsichord with a piano action, or a harpsichord with an electrical amplifier, to name only two popular modem instruments, used in " baroque " performances, which are quite different from those he knew 7- If his music must be played on early 18th-century instruments, what about his wind parts ? Are we to return to the stridency of the old oboe da caccia in preference to the smooth tone of the cor anglais ? Must we all wear wigs to perform Bach ? •
And what, incidentally, is a baroque composer ? I will be kind and refrain from quoting the various dictionary definitions of the word " baroque," but I hope Mr. Richard and his friends do not mean composers contemporary with baroque architecture, or they will find Bach has some strange bedfellows. I do-not condemn the harpsichord and clavichord for those who like them; what I resent is the attitude of persons who treat Bach merely as a writer of period music, a composer who cannot be understood by those who think that, though he has been dead for 200 years, his music is still alive.—Yours faithfully, HERBERT BYARD. Department of Music, University of Bristol, Royal Fort, Bristol, 8.
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