New. Clavecin XX
Justin Taylor (harpsichord), Orchestre National de Lille, Chloé Dufresne
Taylor plays a 1970s harpsichord built by the Parisbased maker Anthony Sidey. The instrument has a sturdy, gut-like quality that allows it to punch above the orchestra in Poulenc's concerto,...
New. Clavecin XX
Justin Taylor (harpsichord), Orchestre National de Lille, Chloé Dufresne
Purchase product
Taylor plays a 1970s harpsichord built by the Parisbased maker Anthony Sidey. The instrument has a sturdy, gut-like quality that allows it to punch above the orchestra in Poulenc's concerto,...
About
‘Generally labelled as a Baroque instrument and thought to have disappeared with the French Revolution, the harpsichord flourished again in the first third of the 20th century and inspired original compositions’.
Justin Taylor offers us a ‘personal’ overview of the harpsichord in the 20th century. He has structured this album around four major concertos (Falla, Poulenc, Françaix, Górecki) which are linked by pieces for solo harpsichord: Bartók, who, in his preface to Mikrokosmos, from which this Hommage to Bach is taken, suggests playing certain pieces on the harpsichord, Martinů and a new work by Stéphane Gassot in reference to Ligeti... The programme concludes with a nod to Scott Joplin and his famous ragtimes.
Always attentive and passionate about instruments, Justin Taylor chose to record the entire programme on a single instrument, a harpsichord built in the 1970s by Anthony Sidey, a hybrid model between Pleyel instruments and historical harpsichord making, which "gives a wide and highly varied range of colours". With this album, he follows in the footsteps of Wanda Landowska and Elisabeth Chojnacka, two pioneers who promoted the harpsichord in all its modernity.
Contents and tracklist
- Justin Taylor, Philippe Bernold, Florian Holbé, Yaoré Talibart, Roxana Rastegar, Batrel-Genin, Hanna Salzenstein, Hugo Abraham
- Quatuor Zaïde
- Justin Taylor
- Orchestre National de Lille
- Chloé Dufresne
- Justin Taylor
- Orchestre National de Lille
- Chloé Dufresne
- Justin Taylor
- Justin Taylor, Philippe Bernold, Philibert Perrine, François Tissot, Perceval Gilles, Adrien Bellom
- Justin Taylor
Spotlight on this release
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Awards and reviews
July 2026
Taylor plays a 1970s harpsichord built by the Parisbased maker Anthony Sidey. The instrument has a sturdy, gut-like quality that allows it to punch above the orchestra in Poulenc's concerto, while highlighting the lighter palette of Jean Françaix's spirited concerto for harpsichord, flute and strings.
June 2026
The four concertos around which the programme is built - Falla, Poulenc, Françaix and Górecki - have little in common stylistically; the first three perhaps share a loose neoclassical thread but treat the instrument in quite different ways. Their variety gives Taylor scope to showcase both his versatility and his strengths as a collaborative musician.
