Colin Tilney (1933–) is a British harpsichordist, clavichordist, fortepianist, and teacher. He studied music and modern languages at Cambridge University, graduating in 1959. His teacher at Cambridge was Mary Potts, and later he also studied with Gustav Leonhardt in Amsterdam. In 1979 he moved to Canada to teach at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto; in 2002 he moved to British Columbia, where he is an adjunct professor at the University of Victoria. He has made over thirty recordings, which include works by Bach, Scarlatti, Locke, Purcell, Frescobaldi, Mozart, and C. P. E. Bach. He is known for his interest in historically informed performance practices and has used historical instruments and modern replicas in his performances and recordings. He sent several recordings to RK to get his opinion of the instruments used in the recordings.

February 15, 1975

Dear Mr. Kirkpatrick—

I am glad the records arrived safely. When you have your player installed and have listened to them, I should welcome a brief comment on the two instruments, if you could find the time to write. In the light of your C. P. E. Bach article in Early Music, I wonder how the Hamburg Hass clavichord measures up to the ideal sound you have in mind for Emanuel's music? The Sodi harpsichord has been a revelation of Scarlatti for me, a clear hard light on his interest in harmonic invention and thematic development.

With best wishes,

Yours sincerely,

Colin Tilney

May 4, 1975

Dear Mr. Tilney:

Now that I have installed a gramophone, I have at last been able to listen to the two records which you kindly sent me. I listened first to the Scarlatti recording and was happy to note the use of a considerable variety of non-simultaneous detaché. Only in some of the slow movements did I feel that the simultaneous release of both the upper and lower voices had sometimes a tendency to chop a long musical line into vertical fragments. To the sound of the late eighteenth-century Italian harpsichord as transmitted by my gramophone I listened without enthusiasm. (The harpsichord is really a dreadful instrument, especially when presented through a large speaker. Moreover, I have never yet had the good fortune to encounter any Italian or Spanish harpsichord that seemed to be adequate for the performance of Scarlatti.)