Visions of a harpsichord will, more often than not, place the instrument in an 18th-century drawing room with its player a demure young woman showing off her musical training to impress a suitor.
Harpsichord artist, Joe Gascho, however, is not about to see that noble instrument go the way of powdered wigs and intimate musical salons that existed when both it, and Baroque music, were at the height of their popularity.
This Saturday at George Washington University, where he teaches harpsichord, he will present a survey of the greatest music written for keyboard before 1750. His solo performance will feature three different instruments, all models of period keyboards.
Gascho will play alternately, a Franco-Flemish, double keyboard with a five-octave range, a single manual Italian, four-octave harpsichord and an English virginal.
“People who have never heard the harpsichord before will get a sampling of some of its different sounds and the variety in the playing,” Gascho said.
It was the variety of tones that initially drew him to the instrument, and the fact that so much of the music is improvised. Solo Baroque music allows for more ornamental improvisation than classical piano composition, for example.
Gascho will give a short introduction to the pieces performed that include Scarlatti’s “Two Sonatas in C major”, Jean Philippe Rameau’s “Gavotte with Six Variations” and Bach’s “Fantasia and Fugue in A minor.” He will also present some of his own transcriptions of songs and violin pieces.
For Gascho, the particular challenge – that nebulous thrill that keeps the adrenalin going – is not necessarily the pieces, but rather the keyboards themselves. In addition to working with several different octaves, each of the three instruments has different sized keys that involve constant adjustment.
Here, Gascho is in his element.
“Joe is an intensely curious musician – always playing with and adjusting harpsichords to find new sounds and to understand how they work,” said Justin Godoy, who along with Gascho founded the Baroque ensemble, Harmonious Blacksmith. “Despite all of his knowledge and training, Joe is a wonderfully spontaneous musician, and it is always a thrill to perform together and see what new and exciting things happen.”
If you go
Joseph Gascho: The Splendor of the Harpsichord
Where: George Washington University, Mt. Vernon Campus
When: 11 a.m. Saturday
Info: $20, free for GW students and faculty; 410-997-1342; www.harmoniousblacksmith.com
