Image: ©️ Nadja Sjöström
In the past few years, András Schiff has returned to many of the works he has recorded before for Decca and Teldec, playing period instruments. He enjoys superb recording quality by the ECM team under Manfred Eicher, and here is no exception.
As the long booklet article by Joris Potvlieghe explains, the clavichord was a favorite instrument for Bach, who supposedly felt it allows for expressive capabilities not offered by the harpsichord. Indeed, as Schiff exemplifies in this recording, the clavichord offers the performer both subtle dynamic changes and delicate vibrato, made by moving the key after it was struck.
The lion’s share of the album is taken by Bach’s 2-part inventions and 3-part Sinfonias, pedagogue works that were intended for students and amateurs. This does not mean they are of less musical value. In fact, some of the works are the most moving, expressive, and original of Bach’s keyboard works.
A few of the works I missed hearing on a piano, especially the C minor Invention and G minor Sinfonia, both superbly played on Schiff’s Decca recording. Some of the fast pieces (I’m thinking of inventions 4 and 12) sound less discernible here, and the Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue that closes the album is most definitely better suited for the harpsichord, where the arpeggios of the Fantasia are communicated to greater effect. Yet other works are shown in new light; In the A minor invention, Schiff takes advantage of the instrument’s ability to do a crescendo, even if a subtle one. The four Duettos are a perfect match for the instrument, and Schiff makes the best out of the early “Capriccio on the departure of a beloved brother” that opens the program.
Related Posts
- Brahms – Piano Concertos – András Schiff, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
- Review: Bach – Goldberg Variations – Fazil Say, Piano
- Review: Bach – Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II – Andreas Staier, Harpsichord
Schiff plays a replica of a Specken clavichord from 1743, built by Boris Potvlieghe in 2003. The less-than-perfect pitch and the instrument’s few resistances make for a realistic sound image. The quality of the performance makes this one of the more convincing clavichord recitals in a while, to sit alongside Menno van Delft’s revelatory recording of the 6 keyboard partitas.
Excellent and highly realistic recording engineering, as we came to expect from ECM. Avoid the temptation to raise the volume level on your stereo system – The clavichord was a modest home instrument for private enjoyment. Better not manipulating it. Recommended.
Clavichord
András Schiff- Clavichord
ECM Records, CD 4857948
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