Rafael Puyana, who lived and died in Paris, has been flown to his homeland for burial.
Last of the harpsichord legends is buried in Colombia
March 5, 2013 by
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Norman Lebrecht on shifting sound worlds
Rafael Puyana, who lived and died in Paris, has been flown to his homeland for burial.
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Sad news.
Puyana was a great artist.
Nice to see that one of the great harpsichordists is remembered. Thus far his passing has been ignored by the NYT-yet, strangely there is an Obit for Marie Claire Alain, who was probably know to as few people in the general public as Puyana.
I had a friend who studied with Landowska-as did Puyana-and he was a legend back then-and my friend would always regale me with stories of Puyana’s ncredible family wealth-true? His recording Baroque Masterpieces was the standard of virtuoso harpsichord playing-though I think it was played on a Pleyel-Landowska’s instrument which in the light of later scholarship is notheldinthe highest esteem.
It seemed his later “come backs” never were that successful-perhaps nerves, or living up to a recorded legend.
There are some fine vidoes on YouTube of himn playing-including the famoous 3 manual.