Tune Thy Music to Thy Heart: A Unique Harpsichord Recital

On Sunday, Jan. 10 at 4 p.m. in the Music Building Recital Hall, Ellensburg music aficionados will have a chance to test the accuracy of their pitch discrimination during the winter quarter Musica Antiqua concert. Margret Gries will perform several works on three different, uniquely tuned harpsichords, performing works that take advantage of the expressive qualities of each. Works by two English Renaissance composers will be paired with works by the 20th Century composer Douglas Leedy. Scholar and composer Douglas Leedy is a seminal figure in the North American early music scene, not only for his founding of the Portland Baroque Orchestra, but for his realization of the vital importance of tuning and intonation in the revival of period instrument practice. These concerns are reflected in his own compositions, especially in the two works presented in this program. His ?Toccata, utremifasolla and Chorale? is a work for harpsichord in a scordatura tuning he has named ?Son of Water.? This composition is designed to reflect the virtues of ?just? intonation. Gries, a musician whose scholarly research concerns historical tunings, will also play William Byrd?s fantasia on the same ut-re-mi-fa-sol-la theme, and Leedy?s ?The Leaves Be Green? will be paired with variations on the same tune by the 17th century English composer William Inglot.