Like
the violin, also the harpsichord is a very individualistic instrument,
yet in a different way. If the violin can be named 'the instrument
of the soul', the harpsichord is in some way 'the instrument of seclusion'.
The language is generally regarded as being more or less archaic,
coming from a different age. And the nature of the instrument is determined
by practically unchangeable features - so it seems - which set the
framework for a different world in which the player can retract, can
isolate and thus can transport the audience or the individual listener
to.
In
principle this frame does not really change when going from the German
Johann Sebastian Bach to the American Virgil Thomson,
from the Spanish idiom of Manuel de Falla to that of the Italian
Domenico Scarlatti.
Much of the sense of the music depends on the character and grandeur
of the instrument and its possibilities, but also on the personality
of the executioner. In this case Sylvia Marlowe.
Sylvia
Marlowe's personality is quite unique in the way she looks at the
world, the way she regards her profession and the place the instrument
has in this context. Hers is a powerful approach, with strength, decisiveness
and precision. Those are the attributes of her artistry. Her pursuit
in rendering the score in a faithful, yet individualistic manner is
what made her stand out in the world of harpsichordists with such
big names as Wanda Landowska, Rosalyn Tureck, Isolde Ahlgrimm,
Ruggero Gerlin, Isabelle Nef, Helmut Walcha, Robert Veyron-Lacroix,
Fritz Neumeyer, Ralph Kirkpatrick, Eduard Müller and Fernando
Valenti, to name those who were the outstanding players of the
nineteen fifties, the time when Marlowe made her recordings for Remington,
and also for American Decca, Haydn Society (6x LP with Haydn Piano
Sonatas) and Capitol (6 Bach Concertos, Falla Concerto, Sonatas of
Frescobaldi and Scarlatti).
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Sylvia
Marlowe in the mid nineteen fifties.
Picture originally published on the back of Capitol P8361 with
Bach's Six Clavier Concerti after Vivaldi, enlarged (enhanced
by R.A.B.)
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The
liner notes on Remington R-199-136 say:
Sylvia
Marlowe was born in New York City, began to study the piano
at the age of nine and at eighteen was offered both a scholarship
to the Juilliard School and the Ecole Normale de Musique in
Paris. Choosing the latter, she worked for four years with
Nadia Boulanger, and after hearing a recital played by Wanda
Landowska, her interest turned to the harpsichord.
Since that time Miss Marlowe has toured Europe, toured the
States; offered, for the first time on the air, the complete
Well Tempered Clavier; played modern works by de Falla,
Poulenc, Virgil Thomson, Arthur Berger, Vittorio Rieti, Alexei
Haieff, Alan Hovhaness, and John Lessard; given recitals in
Town Hall and Carnegie Hall; appeared with symphony orchestras
from coast to coast; discovered old works and commissioned
new ones; performed for ten years in her own "Coffee
Concert" over the National Broadcasting System. This
is confessedly, only a partial list. But it indicates one
thing: Miss Marlowe is a specialist. And clearly that specialty
is the music of all time.
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And
from the cover of the 1960 English Brunswick release "Six Americans"
with works of modern composers (SXA 4537, originally American Decca
710021) I quote this addition:
Her
solo recitals have been supplemented by concerts with her
own chamber ensemble, the Harpsichord Quartet.
With the consciousness of the true artist, Miss Marlowe has
taken pains to inform herself of the correct and complex performance
traditions of the music she plays. (...) Miss Marlowe is music
director of the Harpsichord Music Society, an organization
whose activities include the commissioning of new works for
the harpsichord, the establishment of scholarships for advanced
study of the harpsichord, and the bringing together of players
and musicologists for discussion of performance practice of
older music.
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She
taught at the Mannes School (College) of Music were so many
outstanding performers and pedagogues shaped the generations to come,
and where also Laszlo Halasz was teaching. He obviously talked several
teachers into making one or two recordings for Don Gabor's Remington.
Miss
Marlowe formed "The Harpsichord Quartet" together with Claude
Monteux (Flute), Harry Shulman (Oboe), Bernard Greenhouse
(Cello).
At forty she married painter 
Leonid
Berman (1896-1976) who was her elder by some twelve years.
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"The
Harpsichord Quartet" with Claude Monteux (Flute),
Harry Shulman (Oboe), Bernard Greenhouse (Cello).
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Remington
R-199-202
(released in 1956)
Sylvia Marlowe plays François Couperin: 26ème
ordre
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Cellist
Bernard Greenhouse was a member of the Harpsichord Quartet.
He also played with Sylvia Marlowe the Three Sonatas for Harpsichord
and Viola da Gamba which can be found on Decca DL 10036.
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Some
of Sylvia Marlowe's Decca recordings were released in Europe
on the Deutsche Grammophon label, a licensee of American Decca.
At right LPM 18 688 with Cembalo Concertos of Johann Sebastian
Bach - BWV 1061, 1064, 1065 - with Daniel Saidenberg conducting
the Barock Chamber Orchestra.
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Sylvia
Marlowe's style of playing is already apparent in her early recordings
from the shellac era when she recorded for Decca, Musicraft and
The Gramophone Shop.
78
RPM
Bach:
Italian Concert
Vivaldi: Concerto Grosso (arr. Bach)
Decca DAU4
Couperin:
Les fastes de la grande et ancienne Menestrandise, Tic-toc-choc.
Rameau: Gavotte variée, La poule.
Musicraft MC-84
Purcell:
8 Suites for Harpsichord - complete recording.
Recorded exclusively for the Gramophone Shop
Album GSC-2 (5 x 12")
Scarlatti:
9 sonatas - L-23 (Cortege), 205, 232, 257 (Les adieux), 461, 433,
479, 413 (Pastorale), and 463.
3x 12" Musicraft MC-72
Not
all her recordings received high praise, but Irving Kolodin (in The
New Guide to Recorded Music; 1950) did specifically admire the quality
of Sylvia Marlowe's playing in the Gramophone Shop set with Henry
Purcell's Eight Suites, mentioned above.
The
two Remington recordings of Sylvia Marlowe:
R-199-136 (released in July 1953; in France Concerteum CR 207)
Domenico Scarlatti: Sonatas (Longo 206, 14, 257, 232, 433,
474, 345)
Johann Sebastian Bach: Toccata
François Couperin: Les folies françaises - sometimes
written as "françoises" (also called Les Dominos),
which - as Jay Harrison writes in the liner notes - is a series of
miniatures each representing a different human passion clothed, as
it were, under a different and symbolically colored domino or mask.
And as Jay Harrison writes on the cover, the "theme proper, upon
which the entire composition is based, is titled La Virginite sous
le Domino couleur d'invisible. This is followed, in succession,
by a cast of characters."
Each and every Domino is announced on this record in French which
adds to the atmosphere of the short pieces which are performed very
well.
R-199-202
(released in 1956)
Sylvia Marlowe plays François Couperin: 26ème
ordre
La convalescente
Gavotte
La Sophie
L'Epineuse
La Pantomime
Pasacaille
Les fastes de la grande et ancient Menestrandise
Sylvia
Marlowe, New York, 26 Sept. 1908 - 11 December, 1981.
Rudolf A. Bruil.
Page first published November 10th, 2005 - This page will be updated.
All my articles are copyrighted.
Please do not reproduce this article in whole or part, in any form,
without obtaining my written permission.
