“I like leather,” the famous harpsichordist Zuzana Růžičková once said. Amid the harpsichord’s renaissance in the 20th century, a debate arose as to the materials that should be used for the plucking mechanism (plectra): leather or quill? While historically inspired instruments use quill or Delrin imitation, the material of choice for plectra in larger, piano-like harpsichords (the likes made by Pleyel or Neupert) is animal hide. These days, smaller, historically-inspired harpsichords have largely replaced their clunkier predecessors; finding a Neupert in New York City is actually much harder than a historical instrument. But what’s the difference, really? Harpsichordists have a way of alluding to “good” instruments without defining them. What separates a modern instrument from a historically-inspired one? What’s wrong with leather?
Out of the Piano’s Shadow
An Interview with Keith and Robert Hill
