J.S.Bach : The Six Partitas Disc.2 No.5 BWV 829, No.2 BWV826, No.6 BWV828

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Clavierübung The 6 Partitas Disc 2:
No.5 BWV 829, No.2 BWV826, No.6 BWV828
Kay Ueyama: Harpsichord / Clavecin
Artistic director: Orhan Memed
Recording and post production: Jacques Doll

*Kay Ueyama has released her 2nd solo album," J.S.Bach: 6 Partitas" recorded on a historical harpsichord by Christian Kroll (1776) at the Château Villarceaux (Region Île-de-France)
in France in 2017. It's a wonderful combination of the elegant sounds of the harpsichord and the profound music Bach.
*Review July, 2018 " Art of Records" silver prize"As you might remember, Kay Ueyama's 1st album, J.S.Bach: Goldberg Variations which was recorded in 2012 was selected as the gold disque of "The art of the record" magazine in Japan. Her new recording of J.S. Bach: 6 Partitas was recorded in October, 2017 at the Château Villarceaux on an original harpsichord by C. Kroll 1776. With Kay's musicality, this recording makes it even more special.Indeed, the sound of this historical harpsichord has such vivid and pleasurable sonorities.
The high notes are clear, but at the same time very subtle and they give us a joy to listen to the harpsichord. On the other hand, the lower voice has a very thick resonance which suits baroque music very well.
Kay's performance is always full of energy and we are sure that we have found a harpsichordist whom we can trust."
-Jiro Hamada

"The harpsichordist Kay Ueyama has had the best baroque music education in the States and in Europe. She has a high level of technique and a sophisticated musicality.

Her performance has moments of sensitive articulation, a natural agogic and her expressions are very clear. The harpsichord itself is very good, too.

This historical harpsichord has rich overtones and its sounds are profound and noble.

We can see clearly the character of each dance movement and she make us enjoy with her different register stops. It is a very interesting recording."
-Tsutomu Nasuda

*Profile:Harpsichord: Kay Ueyama

Harpsichordist Kay Ueyama was born in London, and grew up in Tokyo. She earned prizes at the Paola Bernardi Harpsichord competition in Italy in 2003 and in the Yamanashi Early Music competition in Japan in 2005. She studied piano at the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo (Japan), Performance Diploma in piano at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge (USA); harpsichord at the Amsterdam Conservatory (Holland), and earned Masters Degrees from both The Longy School of Music (USA) in harpsichord and The Royal Conservatory of Brussels (Belgium) in fortepiano. She has studied piano under Victor Rosenbaum and harpsichord under Peter Sykes, Menno van Delft (Amsterdam), Christophe Rousset and Huguette Dreyfus(France).
Kay Ueyama is active as both a soloist and a chamber musician in Europe, the USA, and Japan. She has been invited to a number of major music venues, including Mozart festival at the UNESCO World Heritage Centre Würzburg residence (Germany), Salle Pleyel (France), The Royal Chapel at the Château de Versailles (France), and at the Cambridge Early Music Society (UK). In 2002, she first performed J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations (BWV 988) in Boston.
Her performances have been broadcast on Dutch AVRO classic radio channel, Mezzo TV, France musique and Tokyo FM. In 2011, She recorded her first solo album Bach: Goldberg Variations on an original harpsichord by J.Ruckers 1632/1745 and the recording was selected as "Le Diapason Découverte" in France,"The best disque" by Record Geijyutsu (Art of Disque) and the ASAHI Newspaper in Japan. She has also recorded sonatas for cello of J.P. Duport with Raphael Pidoux on Integral Classic. In 2018, her 2nd CD, J.S.Bach: Six Partitas was recorded on an original harpsichord by C.Kroll in 1776 which has selected to receive the "silver prize" by Record Geijyutsu (Art of Disque).
Kay teaches harpsichord at the Kyoto City of Art University and Doshisha Women's College of Liberal Arts in Japan.
www.kayueyama.com

« The Christian Kroll harpsichord 1776 »
Christian Kroll was a well-respected harpsichord builder as cited in various studies on harpsichords from the eighteenth century. Many recordings have been made on instruments built by him that have been restored. Kroll was born around 1747 in Soldin in the Margraviate of Brandenburg. He would have been trained initially as a cabinetmaker. He settled in Lyon around 1769 and died in 1782, limiting his period of production to about twelve years. We have more than a few copies of harpsichords by Kroll. One, dating from 1779, is in a display at the Musée Grévin in Paris. The harpsichord used for this recording dates from 1776 and was re-discovered in its original state, with some strings and quills still in place. It belonged to a family from the area around Lyon and it had probably remained there from the time of its acquisition. The harpsichord builder, Marc Ducornet, acquired the instrument in 2002. After restoring it with Emmanuel Danset, he put in on loan in 2015 to the château de Villarceaux (95) where this recording took place.
This instrument has two 8' (dogleg), a 4' and a buff stop. The range extends down to a low E, a range frequently found in instruments built in Lyon.The keyboards themselves are very light, highly decorated below the keys, and the trefoil decoration on the nameboard is typical of the work of harpsichord builders in Lyon at the time.
Atelier Marc Ducornet
« Translation: Orhan Memed »