Jukka Tiensuu – The Fantastic Harpsichord (1987)

Finnish Jukka Tiensuu, virtuoso harpsichord player and avant-garde composer in his own right, presents a mind-blowing compilation of modern and classical pieces for harpsichord here.

Now, of course it’s utter nonsense to compose a list of instruments that are best suited to produce avant-garde sounds, but if you were to do so anyway, the harpsichord would be high on that list; the ferocious madness of the modern pieces collected on this album – including one of Tiensuu’s own compositions - may be sufficient proof of that. The same goes for a chart containing the most aggressive sounding instruments…if challenged, I think the harpsichord would even give the electric rock guitar a stiff competiton. My, the murderous fury of sounds gets scary here and there… What’s more, the sound quality of this recording is equally stunning as Tiensuu titanic acrobatics on his instrument.

What a record!

You may have some of the pieces on this compilation already, but I doubt you’ve ever heard them performed so well. Further, I’m sure there are some modern pieces you don’t know yet.
A second one to come; so far, Tiensuu has made a series of three: the Fantastic, the Exuberant, and the Frivolous Harpsichord. I’m currently working on the Exuberant, which is every bit as good as this one.
Note: I wasn’t sure if the entire album+scans+recovery would fit into a single archive, so I made it two links. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Tracks

01. Iannis Xenakis: Khoai [0:15:23.17]
02. Michel Corrette: Combat naval: Combat naval [0:04:46.43]
03. Michel Corrette: Combat naval: Adagio [0:02:53.72]
04. Michel Corrette: Combat naval: Tambourin I & II [0:01:15.63]
05. Michel Corrette: Combat naval: Andantino [0:02:00.10]
06. Michel Corrette: Combat naval: Feu d'artifice [0:02:05.42]
07. Antonio Soler: Fandango [0:11:56.00]
08. Jukka Tiensuu: Fantango [0:04:44.00]
09. Kaija Saariaho: Jardin secret II [0:11:05.03]
10. Salvatore Sciarrino: De o de do [0:11:00.40]

Performer

Jukka Tiensuu - harpsichord