Many years ago when our kids were beginning to get into early music — harpsichord, viola da gamba, etc. — we had the pleasure of hearing Webb Wiggins play for the first time, in a concert at the Folger Shakespeare Library. Webb is an accomplished keyboard artist and a great teacher of music. He also has a wry sense of humor.

I still remember how Webb did the page turns while he played that day, flicking out his hand faster than a snake's strike or a frog's tongue. I also recall watching Webb pull out his wrenches and retension the strings of his harpsichord between segments of the performance. As he explained to the audience, "For me, F sharp is not the same as G flat!" — since his instrument deliberately wasn't tuned to an equitempered scale.

As in his page turning and harpsichord tuning, so also in his music: dazzling speed plus perfect control .....

(see also BuechnerMagic (27 Oct 2000), RememberRafe (11 Dec 2000), OrganLessons (24 Jun 2001), ...)

TopicProfiles - TopicArt - TopicPersonalHistory - 2002-12-15

(correlates: ScottReiss, PianoRecital, RememberRafe, ...)