Bach Harpsichord, Inc.

Reviews

New York Times
by Vivien Schweitzer, May 22, 2008

" The phrase “universal composer” is justifiably applied to Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. But the universality of Bach’s music is distinct in that many of his works can be effectively performed on different instruments, in a way that Beethoven’s “Moonlight” Sonata can’t. Bach “cannot die,” the pianist and harpsichordist Rosalyn Tureck said in 1961. “An instrument can die, but Bach can never die.”

That was aptly illuminated during the Bachian feast on Saturday at Symphony Space in the Wall to Wall festival, an annual event featuring about 12 hours of performances exploring one composer or theme. It was the 30th anniversary of the inaugural Wall to Wall, which also celebrated Bach, in what was then the derelict Symphony movie theater. That first musical marathon was the catalyst for founding the multidisciplinary Symphony Space, said Isaiah Sheffer, the theater’s co-founder and artistic director.

This Wall to Wall featured many first-rate performances. There were lilting, lively renditions of several “Brandenburg” Concertos, including No. 5 in D with the Artemis Chamber Ensemble, featuring a virtuosic harpsichord solo from Bradley Brookshire that earned whoops from the audience.

There were several memorable solo performances during the afternoon session, including the cellist Timothy Eddy playing the Suite No. 2 in D minor and the violinist Daniel Phillips playing the Partita No. 2 in D minor. It takes enormous concentration and courage to perform major solo works of Bach from memory; the music is so intimate, it seems as if the performer, exposed and vulnerable, is delivering a public confession. Mr. Phillips looked slightly shell-shocked after his searing performance. The Chaconne from that partita was also played beautifully by the guitarist David Leisner, an example of how well Bach’s music translates to different instruments.

The event offered different approaches to the same instrument, like when Elaine Comparone played standing in front of a specially adjusted harpsichord, which she performed in several works with the Queen’s Chamber Band. Bach’s vast choral output was highlighted with cantatas, including a few well sung by the Melodia Women’s Choir of New York City, led by Cynthia Powell. The Artemis ensemble and the Purchase College Chorus, ably conducted by Matthew Oberstein, offered a polished, rousing rendition of the “Magnificat.” This Wall to Wall ended, as did the inaugural event, with Bach’s Mass in B minor. Leon Botstein conducted the American Symphony Orchestra, the Canticum Novum Singers and soloists of varying ability.

A major highlight of the enjoyable day came in a magical performance of the “Goldberg” Variations by the pianist Jeremy Denk. “We struck gold” with him, said Mr. Sheffer. It was indeed a performance to treasure, riveting from the first notes of the gorgeous Aria. Mr. Denk’s unmannered, profound playing, enriched by multihued dynamics and vibrantly contrasting moods, earned him universal approval from the rapturous audience."

American Record Guide
by Andrus Madsen, May 9, 2008

Bach: The Art of the Fugue
Bradley Brookshire (Bach Harpsichord) and Peter Dirksen (Etcetera)
"Both of these are fine performances. Bradley Brookshire’s recording is my favorite of the two. He manages to infuse Bach’s learned counterpoint with an intense and very dramatic passion. I hear the work in a fresh and new way despite having heard it and even played it so many times. He plays with extremes in rubato that many would associate with Schumann or Brahms, but his performance has me convinced. This passionate style of fugue performance made me think of some of the richly expressive fugues by Bach’s eldest son Wilhelm Friedemann Bach such as the F-minor, F 31.

I love this recording. It is one of the best Bach recordings I have heard in years. Also, Brookshire plays on a fantastic copy of harpsichord by Christian Vater from 1738. The notes do not clearly indicate who built the copy of the Vater instrument, leaving me wondering if Brookshire built it himself. The recording is also available with a digital copy of the score that can be displayed in sync with the recording––a nice feature for taking in a work like this.

Pieter Dirksen records the 1742 version of The Art of Fugue, which he reconstructs himself, as well as four fugues and a canon that did not appear until the 1747 version. For anyone who might be turned off by Brookshire’s hyper-expressive playing, Dirksen’s offering is a nice alternative. He plays in a beautiful and somewhat reserved style that many associate with the learned nature of the work. His performance is elegant and understated. He also plays a beautiful instrument, a Sebastian Nunez copy of a 1638 Johannes Ruckers. While I think the instrument is gorgeous, I have to say that I tire of hearing Bach played on copies of 17th-century Flemish instruments. I say this not because I find fault with the 17th-century Flemish instrument, but because 18th-century German builders had so much to offer that happens to also be perfectly suited to the performance of Bach––as is abundantly clear in Brookshire’s recording."

Goldberg Magazine
by Uri Golomb, Feb.- March, 2008
Original Review found at; http://www.goldbergweb.com/en/discography/2007/62699.php

Johann Sebastian Bach's The Art of the Fugue
(five stars; highest rating)
"I first heard this performance on an early review copy, and discussed it in my article on the Art of Fugue (Goldberg 37). Its dramatic character stems from Brookshire’s vehement rejection of the austere image associated with this work; in his view, the music’s profound expressiveness and stylistic variety “permit –I would even say demand– a relatively inventive, mercurial, and dynamic performance style”. Accordingly, his performance resembles no other harpsichord rendition in its range of colour and articulation, and in its varied approach to tempo –ranging from near-metronomic rigidity to generous rubati. He also goes further than most in de-synchronising supposedly simultaneous notes, thereby clarifying textures and creating a palpable sense of dialogue between the voices. The resulting performance will not be to all tastes; even a single listener might find it mannered and contrived at one moment –and moving and revelatory at the next. To my ears, for instance, Brookshire’s rubato sometimes generates a disturbing stop-and-go effect. Yet for the most part, his performance surges forward with a rare combination of spontaneous freedom, contrapuntal transparency and a clear sense of purpose and direction. The bonus CD-ROM, allowing listeners to hear the music while watching the score on screen, is a kind of teaser; Brookshire is planning to release a more extensive package, in which this performance will be combined with a full analysis and an interactive counterpoint tutorial. I hope to report on its publication in due course; meanwhile, this dramatic and impassioned performance can be strongly recommended."

Audiophile Audition Webmagazine
by John Sunier, Published on February 25, 2008
Original review found at: http://www.audaud.com/article.php?ArticleID=3847

A unique opportunity to follow Bach's score while listening to the work's complete performance.
BACH: The Art of the Fugue BWV 1080 - Bradley Brookshire, harpsichord + bonus CD-ROM of entire score - Bach Harpsichord Inc. [www.BachHarpsichord.com] **** (five stars, highest rating)

"Thought of placing this in the DualDisc section but it’s quite different from any other DualDisc. The first disc is a standard CD with the complete work, and the second is a cross-platform (bravo from us 8% Mac users!) CD-ROM with a clear full-screen view of the entire score accompanied in sync by the performance of the music. The sound file is of course MP3; I don’t know what sampling rate, but I was impressed by not being aware of much of the harpsichord’s delicate overtones being lost. The computer tech specs are not extensive, so you should be able to play and view this on most any PC or Mac.  We’ve had numerous recordings of The Art of Fugue lately, for a variety of instruments since Bach didn’t actually specify a particular one. Most of them are worth hearing, but my personal support goes to those musicologists who feel Bach wrote it to bring edification and intellectual joy to those connoisseurs of music adept enough to play it at their double-manual harpsichord. This is the version I keep in mind when I’m listening to the work on the piano, marimba, synthesizer or sax quartet.   Brookshire discusses in his notes some of the many different ways to present The Art of Fugue. His own approach seems to demonstrate his great love of the music, with an emphasis on its dramatic elements as well as a lighter touch than many of the too-serious interpretations out there. His technique is beyond criticism, and following the score while listening to the recording is a superlative experience which I hadn’t done with keyboard music for a long time. It deepens one’s appreciation of Bach’s genius so much more than just listening to it. It reminded me of how much more impressive those of Scarlatti’s Sonatas with wild hand-crossings become when one is able to see the printed music while listening to it (or even better, trying to play it!). Just listening only, you miss all the action! Brookshire’s recording of the complete Bach French Suites a few years back received many allocades, and his The Art of Fugue should follow the same route. Highly recommended!"

Music-Web International
by Kirk McElhearn , Feb.- March, 2006
Original review found at: http://www.musicweb-international.com/classRev/2008/May08/Bach_Brookshire_bhi1080.htm

"Bach’s Art of Fugue, his “attempt to assay and unify the whole history of contrapuntal music”, as Bradley Brookshire says, is a work that has been performed and recorded in many forms. From solo keyboard performances such as this to ensemble recordings such as the excellent sets by Jordi Savall or Reinhard Goebel. There are also organ recordings and orchestral performances. The Art of Fugue is a unique work that can be performed in many forms, in part because Bach left a score with no indication of the instruments for which it was intended. It cannot be performed in its entirety on a single keyboard instrument - Bradley Brookshire here uses overdubs to record Contrapunctus XII and XIII - yet it works almost perfectly in that idiom. It is no surprise, therefore, that keyboard recordings are the most common. Brookshire here adds his own version to the growing discography.

What struck me first when listening to this set is the sound. I wondered if my stereo had been set to mono by accident; the aural image is very cramped, with a narrow sound-space and hardly any reverberation. I was indeed listening in stereo, but this is a strange stereo; one that constricts, that gives little feeling of amplitude or openness.

Once I got beyond the aural dimension I discovered a unique performance of this wonderful work. Brookshire gets the widest possible range of sounds from his instrument: a harpsichord after Christian Vater, 1738, tuned in 1/6-comma meantone with A=415. Take, for example, Contrapunctus V, where Brookshire plays the melody in a very high register, providing an otherworldly sound that almost recalls an organ. Or listen to Contrapunctus VIII, where the rich bass tones of the instrument come to the forefront, giving this fugue a great sense of power and richness.

Together with that variety of sounds one is struck by Brookshire’s extreme use of rubato, or, as he defines it in the notes, “variety of articulation and registration, or the non-simultaneous performance of note values that are vertically aligned in the score, or a host of other liberties”. Brookshire decries the proscription of this tempo rubato, and says its non-use is “totally lacking in any Baroque pedigree”. And rubato he does. Brookshire’s approach is personal and unique, taking the music for what it is and moulding it to fit his ideas of interpretation. His changes of tempo, his wide range of ornamentation, and his occasional added flourishes, approach this music as though it were a series of unmeasured preludes in the French style.

To the listener familiar with the Art of Fugue, this disc is full of surprises. This is no stolid recording à la Gustav Leonhardt, or neo-romantic version such as the partial recording by Glenn Gould, but one where it seems that the performer took a great deal of care in developing an overall approach that involves tiny decisions in each fugue and canon. While there is a looseness in the performance due to the rubato, it all hangs together with an overall coherence.

One thing should be said about the ordering of the work, which has led to much speculation and many theories over the years. Brookshire seems less obsessed by this than some other performers, calling this line of inquiry “pointless”. He proposes his own order, adding the “final” unfinished fugue as an “appendix” at the end of the recording. Whatever musicologists may think about the position of this fugue, I agree with Brookshire that its place, with its “fade to black” is at the end of any performance. It makes no sense to put it at any other location, having that ending point should be followed by a new beginning.

Note that this recording comes with a second disc, which contains an interactive score for the work. Users on Macs or Windows PCs can view the score page by page while listening to the work. While this may be interesting for some, it would be a lot more so if the score would show what it plays; if, for example, notes turned bold as they were played. But for most keyboard players, it’s enough to have the score. They don’t need to listen along and have the pages “turn” for them; they can follow themselves. "

Goldberg Magazine
by Uri Golomb, Feb.- March, 2006

Johann Sebastian Bach's The Art of the Fugue
"Harpsichordist Bradley Brookshire, for example, states that “the forces of integration” in The Art of Fugue – its thematic and tonal unity, its constant employment of contrapuntal textures – are so strong that they need not be emphasised in performance; instead, the work “permits a relatively fanciful performance.” In his forthcoming recording, he vividly demonstrates that such an interpretation is eminently achievable on a single harpsichord.

Brookshire’s performance resembles no other harpsichord rendition in its range of colours and articulation, and in its varied approach to tempo – ranging from near-metronomic rigidity (especially in the mirror fugues) to generous rubato (notable right from Contrapunctus 1). This reflects Brookshire’s view that “the variety of styles and genres that Bach has pulled out of a small amount of thematic material” is the “most essential feature” of The Art of Fugue. Brookshire also goes further than any other harpsichordist in deliberately de-synchronising supposedly simultaneous notes in order to “create the sense that each individual line in the contrapuntal texture was being performed by a separate individual in musical conversation with other individuals”; in other words, he attempts to simulate an ensemble on a single keyboard. The resulting performance can give rise to strong contradictory reactions; even a single listener might find it mannered and contrived at one moment – and moving and revelatory at the next. In this sense, Brookshire is surprisingly similar to Hermann Scherchen, whose 1964 orchestral version alternates stark, unyielding severity in some movements with high drama in others."

The New York Sun
by Stuart Isacoff, Nov. 1, 2004

The Acolyte, A Chat with the Pianist
"At a recent performance of Bach's "Art of Fugue" at St. Bartholomew's, the splendid harpsichordist Bradley Brookshire used projections of the score on a large screen, with color-coded notation, to help the audience follow Bach's intricate musical web. Despite Mr. Brookshire's brilliant use of rhythmic variety and instrumental color, this was indeed helpful, given the harpsichord's clangorous tendencies."

American Record Guide Review
by Rob Haskins, Sept.-Oct. edition, 2003

J.S. Bach: French Suites
Bradley Brookshire, Harpsichord
"A fabulous release, notable in particular for Brookshire’s ultra-imaginative approach. This is not for the conservative; indeed, some movements have a freshness bordering on the bizarre (the Sarabande from the D-minor Suite, for instance). A careful control of tempo – without the fear to change it when required – also makes a great impression, as in the subtle acceleration near the end of the Courante from the C-minor Suite. His halting, effective rubato both helps to solve unusual performance problems in these pieces (for example, the Courante from the D-minor) and lends some movements a novel and compelling expressivity (Allemande, same suite).

Of course, Brookshire has plenty of virtuosic moments, too – for instance, the lightning-quick Courante from the E-major Suite. His articulation is also varied and sometimes produces unexpected effects: the Allemande from the C-minor Suite, for instance, sounds more playful and unsettled than usual. Although I sometimes don’t understand what musical point he’s trying to make with his articulation choices, I find it refreshing that he makes unexpected choices at all. His ornaments and other added improvised passages are tasteful and utterly convincing. The opulent Sarabande from the G-major, for example, sounds like heaven: the first time through, Brookshire plays a simplified version, but one with fuller chords; second time through, Bach’s version with a few more well-chosen ornaments. One cavil: he doesn’t take all the repeats. That’s too bad: with performances this striking, I could stand to listen to them all a second time. The simple, tender Allemande from the G-major is a case in point.

No information on the instrument or the tuning, but the harpsichord sounds like one of Flemish design and the tuning sounds like an agreeable unequal temperament. With playing this interesting, I think I would have preferred a more bizarre temperament. By far, Brookshire’s release of the French Suites is the best on the market I’ve heard – ever. "

Stereophile Magazine
(CD Review of Bach French Suites by John Marks, September, 2003)

"Brookshire plays the harpsichord the way Nigella Lawson [of the BBC hit show "Nigella Bites"] eats chocolate: with enraptured absorption. What lifts Brookshire's performances out of the usual audiophile (or academic Baroque) dead end is his unusual leavening of drama with humor, and perhaps even a light touch of self-deprecation. I sense that, when he waits just a tad too long for a cadential or false-cadential chord, he is having a bit of fun at his own expense rather than saying, "See how profound I am!" Great late night listening...on an enviably high musical plane. You must hear this."

Musicweb International
(CD Review of Bach French Suites by Johan van Veen, February, 2004)

"There are quite a number of recordings of the French Suites around. Does this new recording offer something special which justifies its release?

Even though I don’t know all recordings available I dare to say it does. This is a very imaginative, bold, even provocative interpretation. It is always interesting, never boring, never predictable. That doesn't mean I agree with every aspect of it, but this recording makes you listen again, and very carefully to music you thought you knew. That is a big compliment in itself.

Bradley Brookshire isn't afraid of adding a lot of ornamentation. It is often said that Bach has written so many ornaments himself that there is not much room for adding even more. And one shouldn't overdo it. Whether that has happened here is debatable. A good example is the sarabande of the 5th suite, which is abundantly ornamented. As a result this is one of the most dramatic movements of the whole set.

I also greatly enjoyed the ornamentation - and the differentiation in it - in the menuet II of Suite 1.

Something which is set to upset people is the use of rubato. Although it is used by other interpreters, like Gustav Leonhardt, Brookshire goes much further in its application than any other I have heard. The sarabande of the second suite is an impressive example of the dramatic effect the use of rubato has.

Brookshire is well aware of the rhetorical character of Bach's keyboard music as he shows for instance in the allemande of the third suite...

I would strongly recommend this disc: it makes you listen to these suites as if you never heard them. And that is the best thing that can be said about a performance."

The New Mexican, Santa Fe
(Concert Review by Craig Smith, Sunday, August 2, 2003)

Towering Beethoven, Invigorating Bach
"When it comes to keyboard music, you can't do much better than Beethoven and Bach, especially as interpreted by pianist Anton Kuerti and harpsichordist Bradley Brookshire. Their Chamber Music Festival recitals in St. Francis Auditorium were not only artistically vital, but fantastic repertoire showcases...

Brookshire's Saturday recital focused on Bach and his Italian contemporaries Giralomo Frescobaldi, Domenico Scarlatti, Benedetto Marcello and Antonio Vivaldi. By playing works first by the trans-Alpine composers and then by Bach, Brookshire gave an object lesson in how artistic influences transcend geographic, political and linguistic. He played his own harpsichord, a modern instrument constructed after a Baroque model by the instrument builder Christian Vater. It had a clear, penetrating sound and more than enough volume for the hall. As icing on the cake, it was lovely to look at — a reminder of a period when hand-crafted beauty was a natural component of music-making.

...The four opening dance-movement correntes, one by Frescobaldi and three by Bach, showed off his rippling finger work and mastery of two-part writing — the most difficult of styles to bring off, since it weaves a harmonic web through the interaction of independent voices rather than melody coupled with harmony. Two pieces by Scarlatti and Bach were delightful examples of how the Italian-Spanish master influenced the German. Brookshire omitted the announced Marcello concerto, jumping straight from Vivaldi's D Major concerto transcribed by Bach, to Bach's monumental Concerto in the Italian Style. Both performances were impressive and soaring, but the encore was even better: Bach's almost labyrinthine-complex Chromatic Fantasy, which Brookshire played with power, confidence and sonic richness."

The New York Times
(Concert Review by Anthony Tommasini, Saturday, January 26, 2002)

An Improvisatory Bach Makes the Harpsichord Sing
"Until the 20th century, an ability to improvise was a requisite skill for all composers and performers in the concert music tradition. Today, it's mostly jazz musicians who keep the practice alive. Some master composers were renowned for their improvisational artistry. Beethoven for one. Perhaps Bach most of all. But what did Bach's improvisations sound like?

The excellent harpsichordist Bradley Brookshire offered insight into that speculation with the latest installment in his challenging and important series of recitals devoted to the complete harpsichord works of Bach, which he began in 1997. Sunday night's recital, the fourth of eight programs, was devoted to fantasias, preludes and fugues.

The fantasias, which Bach often paired with fugues, are probably pretty close to being written-out improvisations. And among the splendid qualities Mr. Brookshire brought to his performances was a rhapsodic flair that enhanced the improvisatory nature of these works.

Bach took two approaches to the fantasia form, as Mr. Brookshire explained in his program notes. There was the free fantasia, like the one that begins the famous Chromatic Fantasy and fugue in D Minor, the work with which Mr. Brookshire opened his recital. Here the bold main theme, essentially an outburst of rushing chromatic scales that dart up and down the keyboard, instigated a restless, volatile fantasy that alternates flourishes of virtuosic passage work with lyrical musings. The other approach was the contrapuntal fantasia, in which long, complex passages of counterpoint evolve with a miraculous blend of compositional rigor and improvisatory freedom. On this program, the Fantasy and Fugue in A Minor (BWV 904) was an excellent example.

Mr. Brookshire, who played a harpsichord built by Philip Tyre in 1991, a copy of a 1738 single-manual instrument by Christian Vater now in the Nuremberg Musical Instrument Museum, maximized the beguiling qualities of the harpsichord - lutelike tenderness in lyrical moments, a whoosh of blurry colors in onrushing passage work - in these fleet, imaginative and probing performances."

The New York Times
(Preview by James R. Oestreich, Friday, January 16, 2002)

"Among other fine work in recent years, this excellent harpsichordist has been surveying Bach's complete music for the instrument in New York recitals since 1997. Here, in the fourth installment, he offers assorted fantasies, preludes and fugues, including the great Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue in D minor. One of the earlier outings, in the French Suites, is now replicated in a recording on Purchase Records, available from Purchase College of the State University of New York. There is plenty more to record where that came from."

The Journal News [Gannett]
(Concert Review by Francis Brancaleone, April 3, 2001)

Bach Gets Some Help From the Modern Age
"Harpsichordist Bradley Brookshire gave a well-informed performance of this enormously complex work...[His] realization and performance were a model of thoughtful, musical exploration. He easily brought the musical design to expressive life. Dance movements danced and the pedagogical intent of serious movements was clarified through articulation and rhythmic inflection.

Brookshire's manner masks a facile technique which he always seems to use in the service of Bach. He does not get in the way of the music but rather elucidates it through his interpretation.

This special event was a memorable opportunity to experience Bach's great work in a unique way."

Buffalo News
(Concert Review by Jan Jezioro , January 15, 2001)

"Internationally touring harpsichordist Bradley Brookshire returned to Holmes Chapel of Westminster Presbyterian Church Sunday afternoon for a solo recital in the Westminster Presbyterian Concert Series. Brookshire proved to be both an engaging and a witty artist, offering an amusing commentary in his well-chosen program.

A selection of 17th-century works that relied on repeated chordal motives displayed the imitative character of the instrument to good effect. Brookshire's playing of "The Bells," by William Byrd, developed a highly atmospheric sense of swaying, leading through a series of hypnotic repetitions, with a slightly stuttering effect, gradually slowing till the decaying last note.

The "Ciaconna," by Bernardo Storace, was played at breakneck speed by Brookshire, strongly emphasizing, via Latin America, the African origins of this dance, that the Spanish authorities once tried to ban as being subversive. The performance was infectiously lively, with the soloist stalling his very rapid passage work for a blink, before continuing even more rapidly, at a seemingly impossible speed.

Brookshire's reflective approach to J.S. Bach's French suite in G Major articulated the music's inner working, clearly differentiating the various dance forms, while making them seem an integral part of a greater whole. The stately "Allemande" had a timeless, suspended quality, while the "Courante" was played with a controlled liveliness. The " Sarabande" was particularly effective, appropriately embellished, with the harpsichordist speaking, more than singing, to the audience.

Nine sonatas by the prolific Domenico Scarlatti were grouped to effectively display the amazing range of this composer. The flawlessly played, ultra rapid K 114 was paired with the seamless shifts of the stately K 177. The tempo changes in K 278 seemed exactly right, with the pauses held for the perfect duration, while the whirling scales of K 492 providing the right contrast.

Brookshire played the detached sections of K 544 in a questioning, uncertain manner, very well contrasted by his intense rhythmic snap in K 545. According to legend. Scarlatti's cat was the stimulus for K 30, the cat playing an upward figure before jumping off the keyboard. Scarlatti's inspiration was well served by Brookshire, who managed to stay on the keyboard in great style to the very end."

The New York Times
(Concert Review by Allan Kozinn, The New York Times, Tuesday January 1, 2001)

Follow the Bouncing Bach
"The commemoration of the 250th anniversary of Johann Sebastian Bach's death brought many benefits to the concert world during 2000, the last and not least of which was a new Year's Eve in which Bach's sublimely involved counterpoint wrested the spotlight from the vacuous waltzes and polkas of the Strauss family.

On the East Side of Manhattan - and on the airwaves, thanks to a live broadcast on WNYC-FM - Sir John Eliot Gardiner, the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists brought their yearlong international Bach Cantata Pilgrimage to a close at St. Bartholomew's Church. Across town, the harpsichordist Bradley Brookshire competed gamely with that high-profile performance by presenting a concert that was more modest in some ways and grander in others. In the comparatively intimate confines of Merkin Concert Hall, Mr. Brookshire gave a warm, rhythmically fluid account of Bach's Art of the Fugue" in a presentation that was meant to engage the eye as well as the ear.

In his program notes, Mr. Brookshire contended that listeners could not fully appreciate "The Art of the Fugue" unless they were reading the score while hearing the music. There is something to that.

This expansive compendium of contrapuntal techniques is more of a theoretical treatise than an entertainment, and if Bach envisioned an audience, it would not have been a hall full of passive listeners, but musicians, amateur or professional, who might marvel at the music's construction as it was played. Today score reading is regarded as an advanced specialty, but paradoxically it takes greater training to follow these fugue subjects and their permutations by ear than to read them on the page.

Mr. Brookshire's solution was to collaborate with James McElwaine, a music professor at Purchase College (where Mr. Brookshire is director of graduate studies) on a computerized version of the score that could be projected behind him during performances. As an aid to less experienced score readers, Mr. Brookshire and Mr. McElwaine engaged Pete Romano, a composition student at Purchase, to render the work's fugue subjects, countersubjects and decorative expansions in different colors.

The subjects were in red, second and third subjects were in blue and a difficult-to-read light green, and the expansions were in purple. Satoshi Arai, an instructor at Purchase, saw to the projection and electronic page turning.

...what Mr. Brookshire offered was a stimulating view of this great work. Although it has been heard lately in many guises - string quartet arrangement are currently in vogue - Mr. Brookshire's harpsichord rendering had a certain rightness of spirit and texture."

The New York Times
(The Critic's Choices, March 2000)

"...Andras Shiff is deft at finding humor in Bach's writing. This attribute, perhaps rarer among harpsichordists than among pianists, is nevertheless notably shared by the splendid New York harpsichordist, Bradley Brookshire, who in 1997 gave the finest performance of the French Suites in recent memory, which has so far no counterpart on record: a worthy project for some label in the Bach year."

The New York Times
(Preview, Nov 28, 1999)

"Here, just in time for commemorations of the 250th anniversary of Bach's death next year, is a harpsichordist of genuine flair, imagination and humor as well as remarkable skill.

Mr. Brookshire is a splendidly finished musician, and he fills a real need in the city's musical life. (He) is a harpsichordist of genuine flair, imagination and humor as well as remarkable skill. His playing at Weill, as on previous occasions, was everywhere stimulating and often provocative. The opportunity to share in this intelligent and unfailingly artistic exploration of the nature of the music proved satisfying; indeed, it seemed important."

The New York Times
(Concert Review by James Oestreich, February, 1999)

"...But on Saturday afternoon there was a little gem of a recital by Bradley Brookshire, a harpsichordist who more and more appears to be the rising star on the New York early-music scene. Mr. Brookshire played a fascinating series of variation works leading up to Bach's masterpiece, as well as a few items from Bach's own "Art of Fugue." Mr. Brookshire played it all with remarkable technical ease and security. New York need to hear more of him, soon and often."

New York Magazine
(Concert Review by Peter G. Davis, June, 1998)

Esther is a miraculous merging of Handel and Racine
"Harpsichordist Bradley Brookshire is a leading light of New York's original-instrument scene."

The New York Times
(Concert Review by James R. Oestreich, Thursday, October 16, 1997)

A Survey of Bach Opens at a Trot
"Can it be that simple? One of the things the New York music scene has needed most desperately in recent years is an excellent Bach harpsichordist, and there was every reason to believe, on Tuesday evening, that it has found one. Just like that.

Not that the young American Bradley Brookshire was a complete unknown. Mr. Brookshire, who teaches at Mannes College and elsewhere, has figured prominently in group efforts onstage and in recordings, but so had others who went on to falter in the solo spotlight.

Mr. Brookshire fairly blossomed, playing all six of Bach's French Suites at Weill recital Hall. It was a remarkable tour de force and, better, merely the first installment of a complete survey of Bach's keyboard works over three seasons.

Fine technical aplomb like Mr. Brookshire's can by no means be taken for granted among harpsichordists these days. But it seemed the least of his attributes here, backed as it was by wonderful musicality, personality and wit.

For the most part, he kept individual voices distinct. And he applied great imagination to the separation of phrases, at the same time characterizing the various dance forms (imparting an occasional galumph to allemandes, for example).

Mr. Brookshire's stamina was also remarkable. Proceeding quickly from one work to the next, he seemed to tire only slightly, toward the end of one or two suites. (But why such haste?) He even added a delightful encore, "La Mandoline," by Antoine Forqueray.

All of this despite the fact that he observed most of the sectional repeats. Those he skipped were in some of the sarabandes, and it seems ungracious to complain, but it was here that Mr. Brookshire may have stood out most.

These movements are often played at a deadly pace and drenched in sentimentality. Mr. Brookshire's bright, voluptuary approach (especially in the First Suite, where he took the repeats and laid on insinuating ornamentation) finally made credible what one has always heard about the lascivious origins of this dance form.

Mr. Brookshire played a 1991 copy of a 1728 German instrument with a single keyboard, which looked from a distance to extend six octaves or so. It hardly seemed big enough to hold all the notes, let alone the color Mr. Brookshire coaxed from it."

The New York Times
(Concert Review by Allan Kozinn, 1994)

"Mr. Brookshire's playing is secure and reasoned. He made much of the generic and formal differences among the Preludes (Well-Tempered Clavier, ll) Thus, his account of the D-minor Prelude was pressurized, ominous and dramatic; the F-Major Prelude had an almost pastoral elegance; and the D-Major Prelude had a martial brightness. It was clear that he had pondered these pieces carefully."

The New Yorker
(Concert Review by Andrew Porter, 1991)

"...assured and stylish. The Camerata has become confident, and there was shapely singing from all. A septet of bowed and plucked strings, directed at the keyboard by Bradley Brookshire, provided supple accompaniment."

Early Music Quarterly, Budapest
(Concert Review, 1989)

"Bradley Brookshire in a programme comprised of works by Böhm, Scarlatti and J.S. Bach convincingly showed he is a thoroughly professional artist whose name we shall surely hear again in the future. Astounding virtuosity, wonderful harpsichord sound, deliberate, purposeful formal construction and a commanding personality - all these qualities found their most convincing, expression in the final captivating Chromatic Fantasy and fugue, and rank the young artist with the international vanguard of harpsichordists."

Magyar Nemzet, Budapest
(Concert Review, 1989)

"What strikes one first is his extraordinarily intimate rapport with the instrument. The distant attitude and affected temperament so much the norm in early music today has nothing to do with him. Brookshire plays the harpsichord as you or I would write our own names or reach for an object which has fallen; that is to say, as second nature. Moreover, the freedom which he allows himself with rhythm is logical and consistent."