On a rainy Saturday morning in New York City, I packed my tripod, camcorder, battery chargers, and Henle Urtext edition of J.S. Bach's French Suite No. 5 in G, and headed for Elaine Comparone's gorgeous harpsichord and piano sanctuary on Manhattan's West side. We'd planned to discuss ornaments in the Baroque using the springboard Sarabande, though wide-eyed and inspired Elaine wove in the Loure with a bedazzling reading framed by a Harvard Dictionary introduction.
A two-part exchange, in an impromptu spirit captured the essence of "improvisation" in the Baroque period, and found expression in harpsichord and piano renderings.
A big Thank You goes to Elaine Comparone for her illuminating words and profoundly beautiful music-making!
Loure rendered on the Piano
Updated rendering by Elaine Comparone on the harpsichord:
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Elaine Comparone teaches harpsichord and piano on Manhattan’s West side with a Baroque period emphasis.
International Online Piano Teacher, blogger, recording artist, composer, piano finder, freelance writer, film maker, story teller: Grad of the NYC H.S. of Performing Arts, Oberlin Conservatory, NYU (Master of Arts) Studies with Lillian Freundlich and Ena Bronstein; Master classes with Murray Perahia and Oxana Yablonskaya. Studios in BERKELEY, California; Member, Music Teachers Assoc. of California, MTAC; Distance learning by Skype and Face Time with supplementary videos: SKYPE ID: shirley kirsten
Contact me at: shirley_kirsten@yahoo.com OR http://www.youtube.com/arioso7 or at FACEBOOK: Shirley Smith Kirsten, http://facebook.com /shirley.kirsten; https://www.facebook.com/skirs.7/ TWITTER: http://twitter.com/arioso7
Wordpress Blog: https://arioso7.wordpress.com
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6 thoughts on “Baroque Ornaments, execution, style, context and taste: A Conversation with Elaine Comparone”
Just listen to you playing the Sarabande, French Suite no. 5. Thank you so much:). Bach just has a way of making you feel good when you play and listen.
Hi , this is a reply to your Facebook post about loures and bagpipes. The French version of wikipedia says the the loure gets it name from a wind instrument belonging to the family of bagpipes (Normandy bagpipes, not Scottish). I never knew about these Normandy bagpipes but their Brittany cousin, the biniou, is certainly used in folk dances.
Thanks for this enlightenment. Being under the influence of Elaine Comparone and her Harvard Dictionary I recorded the Loure on piano, but could not exactly retrieve the spirit of bagpipes without a drone bass being evident in the score.
We'd planned to discuss ornaments in the Baroque using the springboard Sarabande, though wide-eyed and inspired Elaine wove in the Loure with a bedazzling reading framed by a Harvard Dictionary introduction. 
Just listen to you playing the Sarabande, French Suite no. 5. Thank you so much:). Bach just has a way of making you feel good when you play and listen.
Thanks for your kind feedback.
Hi , this is a reply to your Facebook post about loures and bagpipes. The French version of wikipedia says the the loure gets it name from a wind instrument belonging to the family of bagpipes (Normandy bagpipes, not Scottish). I never knew about these Normandy bagpipes but their Brittany cousin, the biniou, is certainly used in folk dances.
Thanks for this enlightenment. Being under the influence of Elaine Comparone and her Harvard Dictionary I recorded the Loure on piano, but could not exactly retrieve the spirit of bagpipes without a drone bass being evident in the score.
your blog is great!
Thank you!