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Broadcast of August 24, 1997
Greetings!
On the August 24 broadcast, Laughing played the Fantasia and Fugue in G Minor, BWV 542, by Johann Sebastian Bach twice, first in the "original" version, played by Philippe Lefebvre on the great organ of Notre Dame in Paris
(Catalogue No.:
FYCD 124, which I did not have time for during the July
20th broadcast and, second, in the revised 1872 version
of the 1863 piano transcription by Franz Liszt, recorded
by the very gifted and charismatic British pianist Leslie
Howard for Hyperion
(Catalogue No.:
CDA66438).
I also played one of the unjustly neglected keyboard
sonatas by Giovanni Benedetto Platti (ca. 1690 - 1763),
which are being recorded in their entirety by Carlo
Grante for the Dante label. I find the Sonata No. 6, with
its set of variations particularly intriguing. It is in volume
2 
of the series
(Catalogue No. PSG9648).
Finally, I have recently finished reading a collection of
letters written by Giacomo Meyerbeer, the immensely
successful contemporary of Rossini whose operas are
now damned with faint praise. I have been exploring
Meyerbeer's orchestral music, and I shared some of it
with you, from an excellent reissue of performances
conducted by René Leibowitz on Forlane
(Catalogue No.:
UCD 16586)
If you are curious to learn more about the much (and
unjustly so!) maligned Meyerbeer, I recommend that you
visit The Meyerbeer Fan Club Home Page. I also
suggest that you seek out Giacomo Meyerbeer, a Life
in Letters, edited by Heinz and Gudrun Becker and
translated by Mark Violette (Amadeus Press, 1989),
which, alas, appears now
to be out of print.
Meyerbeer's letter to Adolphe Sax about the Bach 2nd Brandenburg Concerto that I read on the programme is on page 133.
Confusion to our enemies!
Laughing
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