Lou Harrison: harpsichord music CD

Recently I was in Berkeley lollygagging around a record store and just
happened across a copy of:

Lou Harrison
Complete Harpsichord Works
Music for tack piano & fortepiano in historic
and experimental tunings

Performer: Linda Burman-Hall (solo keyboards). New Albion Records (2002),
San Francisco, no catalog number listed. 26 tracks, 75 minutes.

Burman-Hall performs on single & double harpsichords, tack piano, and
fortepiano. The liner notes are extensive (and in small print).

This is a pleasant CD that includes a variety of mood pieces and a set of
"sonatas" for cembalo in historic tunings. (That's "sonata" in the early
Scarlatti sort of sense as short one-movement pieces.) Many of the pieces
are rather "nostalgic", I guess you'd say, for an earlier, gentler age.
This is a nice introduction to microtonality to spring on your friends
who've never heard of "tuning".

Tunings on the CD include Werkmeister III, Kirnberger II, and several of
Lou Harrison's own "well temperaments", and one 7-limit JI tuning.

Except for the very first piece on the album, which for some reason turned
me off, I enjoyed the whole thing. Definitely worth a spin for anyone who
likes the harpsichord, early music, or well-temperaments.

Rick

Rick,

Agreed - this is a very nice disc, and as you say, a nice introduction to other tunings in a gentle manner.

Cheers,
Jon