Irma Rogell Pleyel harpsichord
The Pleyel harpsichord used in this recording was
built for Irma Rogell in Paris in 1958 to specifications set
forth by Wanda Landowska in 1907 based on her studies of
existing harpsichords, particularly those of Bach and
Handel. It is a two-manual concert grand consisting of two
eight-foot stops, one four-foot stop, one sixteen-foot, a
nasale and a lute stop.
Released 1983 by Mnemosyne Records Mn-6, Titanic Records
Recorded in Newton, Massachusetts, December, 1982.
Recording engineer: David Griesinger.
Recording editor: John Newton.
Jacket design: Eleanor Bradshaw, Arlington, Massachusetts.
Cover painting: The Penitant Magdalen by Georges de La Tour (1593-1652).
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, gift of Mr. & Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 1978.
Jacket notes: lrma Rogell.
Mnemosyne Records is a division of Titanic Records, 43 Rice Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02140.

Thanks to Robert Tifft the webmaster of the European Revival Harpsichordists ( for providing all the documentation and already cleaned up acoustic material to make this publication possible.

I took the liberty to remove dominant mechanical clicks in the recording.

SIDE A
1. JOHN BLOW (1648 -1708)
00:00 Chacone in G
2. HENRY PURCELL (1658 -1695)
03:42 Ground in e minor
3. GEORG FREDERICH HANDEL (1685-1759)
Suite in d minor
06:36 Allemande
08:57 Courante
10:45 Sarabande with two variations
14:22 Gigue
4. NICHOLAS VAN SLYCK (1922-1983)
15:17 Diferencias
1966, dedicated to Irma Rogell

SIDE B
1. DOMENICO SCARLATTI (1685-1757)
23:15 Sonata in C Major
27:00 Sonata in C Major
33:18 Sonata in c minor
2. NICHOLAS VAN SLYCK (1922-1983)
La Tomba di Scarlatti 1963, dedicated to Irma Rogell
35:48 Sonata No. 1: Allegro Serioso
39:04 Sonata No. 2: Parlando
42:09 Sonata No. 3: Vivo) Gioioso

I R M A _ R O G E L L, a graduate of Radcliffe College,
studied harpsichord with Denise Restout, and with Wanda
Landowska until Landowska’s death in 1959. She has given
solo concerts throughout Europe, South America and the
United States, and has appeared with the Boston Symphony,
the Brazil Symphony, and other major orchestras, as
well as chamber ensembles. Miss Rogell was harpsichordist
with the “Camerata of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts”
for several years before she went to live in Lausanne,
Switzerland. She has been on the faculty of the Longy
School in Cambridge, Massachusetts; York College of the
City University of New York; and the Ethical Culture
Society of New York. She has taken part in music festivals
from New Jersey to Greece. Miss Rogell currently conducts
master classes at her studio in New York City.

“IRMA ROGELL is an artist profound and inspired. She does not
regard the harpsichord as an instrument that strictly symbolizes an
epoch, in the rather narrow and restrictive sense of that word. Her
playing, of an extreme freedom, yet imbued with a style of
absolute purity magically animates her instrument and confers
upon it that ‘couleur d’erernite’ which alone expresses with truth
the constantly renewed life of the musical works. ”
J.P , Gazette de Lausalllle

“That IRMA ROGELL is an extraordinary artist we could clearly
hear in her musically authoritative performance. In her phrasing,
her rhythm, her projection, and by her ingenious registration onc
learned to appreciate her wonderful instrument and her extraordinary playing. ”
Het Vrije Volk, Amsterdam

“Harpsichord art, the like of which, in the wealth of its musical and
colorful exploitation of this instrument, we have not experienced
since the time of the unforgettable Wanda Landowska.”
Neue Zurcher Zeitlmg, Zurich

#PleyelHarpsichord #IrmaRogell