JS Bach - Clavichord | ECM New Series 4857948

JS Bach - Clavichord

£22.75

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Label: ECM New Series

Cat No: 4857948

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 2

Genre: Instrumental

Release Date: 27th January 2023

Contents

About

After his landmark recording of some of Johann Sebastian Bach's most important keyboard music, one of the great Bach interpreters of our time turns his attention to the composer's preferred instrument.

The sound of the clavichord is, says András Schiff, an invitation into "a new world, a quiet oasis in our noisy, troubled times. Thanks to the clavichord I now play and hear Bach differently." An intimate and personal instrument - "a most gentle creature, ideal for playing alone" - it can also be, as Schiff notes, a demanding and unforgiving teacher. "On the clavichord we have only our fingers at our disposal, they must create the music with the finest gradations of touch."

The early keyboard works are emphasized here, bringing us closer to the sounds of Bach's day, and the "cantabile art" of the clavichord. The album opens with the Capriccio sopra la lontananza del fratro dilettissmo, journeys through Inventions and Sinfonias, and concludes with an extraordinary account of the Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue.

On this recording, Schiff's first on the clavichord, he plays a replica of a 1743 Specken instrument, built by Belgian craftsman Joris Potvlieghe. The album was recorded in the Kammermusik Saal of Bonn's Beethoven-Haus and produced by Manfred Eicher.

Reviews

... the real case for the suitability of clavichord is Schiff’s own performances of a programme that explores the range of its possibilities, using a 2003 replica of a 1743 Specken instrument. ... As with his previous period-instrument ventures, Schiff opens up a new world and thoroughly adjusts his temperament, his ‘pianism’ and his artistry to it. If on the modern piano he brings Bach to us in all his reflectiveness and majesty, on the clavichord he invites the audience as it were to eavesdrop on Bach himself, as if sitting in the same room, or ‘a quiet oasis’, as Schiff puts it in his notes.  Michelle Assay
Gramophone April 2023
The mature Inventions and Sinfonias blend insight, as in the elusive, chromatic Sinfonia in F minor, with a beguilingly carefree approach in the more relaxed numbers such as the E major Sinfonia.... the Fantasia of the Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue has a brilliance surpassing many a harpsichord or modern piano performance.
BBC Music Magazine April 2023
The case is made both academically, but even more significantly musically, for the use of clavichord in this repertoire. The modern replica instrument sounds splendid, and András Schiff’s playing is revelatory.
Gramophone
The case is made both academically, but even more significantly musically, for the use of clavichord in this repertoire. The modern replica instrument sounds splendid, and Andras Schiff's playing is revelatory.
Gramophone April 2023
Gramophone Editor's Choice

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