Harpsichordist

Returning last week to Manhattan from a trip to her native Austria, Harpsichordist Yella Pessl had good news for those music lovers who like to hear 17th and 18th Century works on the instruments for which they were written. On its way from Munich was a fine new harpsichord, made by Karl Maendler, famed for his work with archaic instruments, on which she will record some more Bach, Haendel, Purcell, old German Christmas songs for Columbia this week. Herr Maendler's aim in constructing from old Viennese cherry-wood this super-harpsichord was to eliminate the twangling and jangling of the instrument's complicated internal machinery.* With this carefully constructed 20th Century edition of the piano's forerunner, Miss Pessl hopes to evoke no unwanted vibrations to mar her recording and broadcasting.

Like Chicago's Philip Manuel and Gavin Williamson, other skilled musical archeologists in the U. S. and Europe, Miss Pessl is a serious musician, hunts high & low for original scores of classics. To this end she imported last week 235 lb. of old music from Austria to Manhattan. Born Gabriella Pessl in Vienna 27 years ago, daughter of one of Europe's foremost beauticians, "Yella" Pessl forsook the cosmetic industry, studied the piano, then the organ, and finally began to explore the possibilities of the harpsichord and the clavichord. To combine her three interests of mountain climbing, skiing and music, this dark-eyed, energetic young woman carries a portable clavichord on her back on Austrian outings. This summer, be nighted at a Tirolean inn, Yella Pessl met Karl Maendler. When he heard who Miss Pessl was, Herr Maendler vowed he would build her a famous harpsichord, set to work immediately on his return to Munich. Another summer's adventure occurred when she played at Salzburg for Austria's President Wilhelm Miklas and Chancellor Dr. Kurt Schuschnigg who pronounced Miss Pessl's Haydn concerto EntzUeckend. Last week Yella Pessl an nounced her present ambition to "shoot" New York's Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia with her minicamera.

* No tinkling music box, the harpsichord has two keyboards, as many as seven stops, can produce more than 100 tonal "color" combinations.

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