Harpsichord recital highlights French composers

Zvi Meniker returns to Ithaca to present a harpsichord recital of French music from the Baroque Tuesday, Sept. 3, at 8 p.m. in Barnes Hall. The recital is free and open to the public.

Meniker explores suites and movements of suites by Jean-Henry d'Anglebert, Louis Nicolas Clérambault, François Couperin, Antoine Forqueray and his son, Jean-Baptiste -- with a little Jean-Baptiste Lully and J.S. Bach thrown in.

The program begins with selections from d'Anglebert's Suite in G Minor, which include original movements, arrangements of dances and operatic music by Lully, and arrangements of folk and vaudeville music. And since d'Anglebert used music of another composer in his suite (that of Lully), Meniker then performs Clérambault's Suite in C Minor, inserting two dances of J.S. Bach to the mix. The second half of the program includes a suite in F-sharp minor by Couperin and four movements by Antoine Forqueray followed by one movement of his son.

The harpsichord recital is a fairly recent phenomenon; a composer of the Baroque period would be amazed that a fairly large audience, sitting in a sizable hall, would want to listen to nothing but a harpsichord for more than an hour. The music written for solo harpsichord was always thought of as Hausmusik, a genre for a few to enjoy or, perhaps, to dance to. This attitude by no means belittles harpsichord music; indeed, the two centuries between 1580 and 1780 produced an astounding repertoire. No other Baroque instrument can compare to the harpsichord in the wealth and variety of its music.

Harpsichordist, organist and fortepianist Meniker was born in Moscow and raised in Israel. Having begun advanced musical studies at the age of 15, he received diplomas with distinction from the Salzburg Mozarteum and the Zurich Academy of Music, where he studied with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Johann Sonnleitner, before moving on to the United States to study with Cornell Professor Malcolm Bilson. His doctoral dissertation, recently completed, is on the performance practice of Frédéric Chopin's piano works.

Meniker commands a wide repertoire on his three instruments ranging from late medieval works to 20th century compositions and has won numerous awards at international competitions. He taught harpsichord and performance practice at Duke University and is a regular faculty member at the annual Early Music Workshop in Jerusalem. After teaching at the Mendelssohn Conservatory in Leipzig, Meniker accepted a professorship at the Hannover Conservatory, where he currently teaches harpsichord, fortepiano and performance practice.