SOP Podcast #14 - Frank Mento on Harpsichord Playing for Organists

Welcome to episode 14 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast!

Frank Mento is an American born organist and harpsichordist currently living and working in France. He is Professor Emeritus of Harpsichord at the Conservatory of the 18th precinct in Paris and Organist Emeritus at Saint-Jean de Montmartre Church, also in Paris.

He has recently published an 8th volume of his Complete Harpsichord Method out of projected 10 volumes. This treatise is especially suitable for organists because harpsichord and organ in early music are very closely related - they are like cousins.
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"Early keyboard fingerings were interchangeable both on the harpsichord and organ. And if you look at the 19th century organ, the idea of the touch was it to be more like the piano - you had the barker lever to make it easier to play to imitate the piano touch of the 19th century. Everything is parallel - fingerings follow the period. The later fingerings permitted a more legato playing whereas the early fingering produced a natural articulation grouped by pairs."

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Relevant link:
Complete Harpsichord Method by Frank Mento - ​http://methode-clavecin.fr