John Sheeles - Suite 1 in C minor - Mr Bellicanta: harpsichord 

Thank you for listening! I am glad that you identify a 'stately elegance' in this music. I think that my tempo allows such majestic quality of it to come out and I believe that a lot of nice enough music has been 'forgotten' due to the ablation of its qualities, may they even be few, caused by too rapid tempi.

@@theclavierist I agree. I sometimes come across recordings from famous and talented harpsichordists who go for fast tempi... not because it is necessarily instructed on the score... but because they are able to play that fast... at least... that's sometimes the impression I get

I think that the famous and talented that you mention above can be often trapped in the way they were taught by 'authorities' and because they simply 'can', they play it in a way that evokes more a tradition of late 19th-20th century virtuosism rather than a pre-industrial revolution Affekt filled sound world. To the point that the idea of Affekt might have been distorted and changed into something else. We are so far from the times of this old music that our 'normal' has potentially become very distant from it as well. What might have been 'normal' in the 17th-18th (and first part of the 19th) centuries could sound grotesque today. I believe that slower tempi alone (compared vs 'mainstream') give us a chance to get closer to the past. Then, of course, many other elements come into play, it is not just about playing slower. Obviously, there are 'virtuosos' that, perhaps due to instinct, get 'out of the box', then we are all blessed to experience what they create. Also, those that are so good that in spite of staying 'inside the box' still manage to create beauty. The absurdity of thinking that music in the past was played faster than today goes against any logic. Anyway, to each one what their sensitivity can perceive. We can choose to bathe ourselves with 'humanness' or conform and aspire to become machines, until our distorted feelings become so confused and slim that they vanish.

More or less once a month I get to play a spinet, I haven't tried this on it yet, but no doubt it would sound great! I have no theoretical grounds to say that the Jigg is 'Corellian'.. it is just that, especially the second part, reminded me of some music of Corelli that I had heard before, maybe is the harmonic progression maybe the style. In the future I will certainly play more suites by Sheeles! The short clip at the end is at Avebury :-)

Baroque rocks 🕺