{"title":"Classical Clavichord","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"bach-keyboard-music-vol-4-7318590009635","title":"Bach: Keyboard Music, Vol.  4","description":"Classical Music","brand":"BIS","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":44624142434538,"sku":"7318590009635","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/2263096.jpg?v=1786749591"},{"product_id":"bach-keyboard-music-vol-2-7318590008799","title":"Bach: Keyboard Music, Vol. 2","description":"Classical Music","brand":"BIS","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":44624141713642,"sku":"7318590008799","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/2263031_a519fd5a-1052-4127-bebe-7b187d419316.jpg?v=1786746376"},{"product_id":"c-p-e-bach-solo-keyboard-music-vol-42","title":"C.P.E. Bach: Solo Keyboard Music, Vol. 42","description":"With this recording, volume 42 of the complete music for solo keyboard by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Miklos Spanyi continues his exploration of transcriptions of concertos originally written for keyboard and orchestra, to which he adds some movements from early versions of sonatas (the standard versions of which appear on earlier volumes in this series).     Four of the six concertos from the Wq 43 collection are featured here (the remaining two appear on the previous volume, BIS-2397). When Bach published this set of six concertos for keyboard and orchestra in 1772, he also prepared a version for solo keyboard intended for moderately advanced amateurs who could then play them at home, without orchestra, thus opening up a much larger market. A smart move by the shrewd businessman that Bach was.     About his decision to record these works on a clavichord rather than a tangent piano as previously, Spanyi says that it allows 'nearly infinite possibilities for fine dynamic shadings' and that 'the required dynamic contrasts can be emphasized even better than on other keyboard instruments of the period'. Spanyi adds that this release is a tribute to the clavichord, and especially to his own instrument, built by Joris Potvlieghe.","brand":"BIS","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012545827050,"sku":"7318590024874","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4413285-3364153.jpg?v=1786690050"},{"product_id":"j-s-bach-klavierbuchlein-fur-wilhelm-friedemann-bach","title":"J.S. Bach: Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach [Entire] \/ Yuan Sheng","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe \u003cem\u003eKlavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach\u003c\/em\u003e (the original spelling: Clavier-Büchlein vor Wilhelm Friedemann Bach) is a collection of keyboard music compiled by Johann Sebastian Bach for his eldest son Wilhelm Friedemann, who went on to become one of Europe's greatest improvising composers. The book has a clear didactic purpose. Most of the pieces included are better known as parts of \u003cem\u003eThe Well-Tempered Clavier\u003c\/em\u003e and the \u003cem\u003eInventions\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eSinfonias\u003c\/em\u003e. The pieces in the collection are sequenced by complexity, beginning with the simplest works. The works are for “Keyboard” so they may be played on any instrument of the time: organ, harpsichord, spinet, or clavichord. Bach, however, considered the clavichord the best instrument for personal use, because it is able to express most adequately the \u003cem\u003ecantabile\u003c\/em\u003e way of playing.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003ePlayed on the clavichord by Yuan Sheng, “China’s premier interpreter of Bach” (\u003cem\u003eInternational Piano Magazine\u003c\/em\u003e) and a pupil of Solomon Mikowsky and Rosalyn Tureck, Yuan Sheng extensively studied the performance practice of Baroque music. Equally at home at the piano as at the harpsichord, he has an instinctive feeling for the possibilities, sonorities, and touch of the instrument at hand, so that “the listener might easily have imagined the composer at the keyboard” (\u003cem\u003eBoston Intelligencer\u003c\/em\u003e).\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Brilliant Classics","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012626010346,"sku":"5028421964553","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4063815-2828420.jpg?v=1786665573"},{"product_id":"coelho-flores-de-musica-vol-5","title":"Coelho: Flores de Musica, Vol. 5","description":"Flores de Musica pera o instrumento de tecla \u0026amp; harpa is the only known work of Portuguese composer Manuel Rodrigues Coelho. Printed in Lisbon in 1620 and boasting more than five hundred pages, Coelho's Flores de Musica is one of the largest music works printed in the seventeenth century. Celebrating the 400th anniversary of it's original publication, a new edition in three volumes has been published with the research being used to inform this major new recording series. Harpist and soprano Maria Bayley and clavichordist Marco Orsini-Brescia lend their artistry to this latest chapter in an ambitious recording project.","brand":"Inventa Records","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012644425962,"sku":"5060262794036","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4433215-3412868.jpg?v=1786682582"},{"product_id":"j-s-bach-works-for-clavichord","title":"J.S. Bach: Works for Clavichord","description":"Hardly any other keyboard instrument is as multi-faceted in it's expression and affect as the clavichord. The extremely simple, direct action allows for the finest nuances - even vibrato is possible. Lea Suter showcases these unique capabilities, demonstrating the wealth of inspiration in such well-known works as Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue, Partita in E Minor and even the grandiose Chaconne in D Minor.","brand":"MDG","offers":[{"title":"SACD","offer_id":46012655468778,"sku":"760623234762","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4395128-3312301.jpg?v=1786686348"},{"product_id":"c-p-e-bach-fantasias-5028421965673","title":"C.P.E. Bach: Fantasias \/ Häkkinen","description":"\u003cp\u003eCarl Philipp Emanuel Bach was widely known for his passionate, incomparable improvisations on the clavichord, most characteristically in the form of free fantasia. His compositions were unique in style, full of contrasts, and universally admired by several generations; the Vienna Classicists, even Beethoven and Schubert, considered him their musical father. Declamatory, improvisatory style is of course the epitaph of all 18th-century music – exemplified in Johann Sebastian Bach's Chromatic Fantasia BWV903, with its central recitative and broken chords audaciously passing through distant harmonies. Johann Nikolaus Forkel, author of the first Bach biography and part of C.P.E. Bach’s literary circles, transmitted a refined version in his manuscript (P 212) and subsequent edition that may derive from a revised original version once in possession of the Bach sons. C.P.E. Bach’s Fantasia in C minor (published in 1753) bears distinct similarities to his father’s Fantasia chromatica, and it has been suggested that it may in fact have been a tombeau to the elder Bach. The deep personal nature and connection between the two works is explicit. For Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and the ‘Bachists’, the most expressive and intimate compositions were reserved for the clavichord. It was in the clavichord that one might ‘find the soundboard of your heart. … Have no regrets when alone under the moonlight you improvise, or refresh your soul on a summer night, or when you celebrate a spring evening; ah! then pine not for the strident harpsichord. See, your clavichord breathes as gently as your heart.’ (Ch.F.D. Schubart: Musikalische Rhapsodien III, 1786) Charles Burney, who visited C.P.E. Bach in Hamburg in 1772, described the composer improvising at his legendary clavichord, built by Gottfried Silbermann: ‘He grew so animated and possessed that he not only played but looked like one inspired. His eyes were fixed, his lower lip fell, and drops of effervescence distilled from his countenance.’ The original 18th-century instruments heard on this recording – from Regensburg, Stockholm and Vienna – demonstrate possibilities the like of which would have been known to Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach in Berlin and Hamburg and ultimately derive from the Saxon school of G. Silbermann.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Brilliant Classics","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012656484586,"sku":"5028421965673","price":10.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4202373-3141775.jpg?v=1786671024"},{"product_id":"d-scarlatti-sonatas","title":"D. Scarlatti: Sonatas","description":"In the light of his later music, it is by no means difficult to imagine Domenico Scarlatti strolling under the Moorish arcades of the Alcazar or listening at night in the streets of Seville to the intoxicating rhythms of castanets and the half oriental melodies of Andalusian chant. To them Saracen of his Sicilian ancestry and Neapolitan childhood must have responded. (Ralph Kirkpatrick, Domenico Scarlatti)","brand":"Fra Bernardo","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012851912938,"sku":"4260307434977","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3077567.jpg?v=1786669000"},{"product_id":"bach-the-early-pianoforte-luca-guglielmi-257675","title":"Bach \u0026 The Early Pianoforte \/ Luca Guglielmi","description":"\u003cspan class=\"COMPOSER12\"\u003eBACH \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12b\"\u003ePreludium in C, \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003eBWV 846\/1\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12b\"\u003e. Toccata in c, \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003eBWV 911\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12b\"\u003e. Praeludium in E?\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e, BWV 1010\/1\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12b\"\u003e. Prelude for Cembalo, \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003eBWV 998\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12b\"\u003e. Praeludium in c, \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003eBWV 999\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12b\"\u003e. Partita in c, \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003eBWV 997\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12b\"\u003e. Sonata in a, \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003eBWV 1003\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12b\"\u003e. Sarabande in g, \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003eBWV 995\/4 \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"BULLET12\"\u003e • \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e Luca Guglielmi (fp) \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"BULLET12\"\u003e • \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e PIANO 62 (66:47) \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAs a keyboardist, Johann Sebastian Bach clearly deserves the renown that he attained even during his lifetime, for his compositions and facile playing style. Although much has been recorded on both organ and harpsichord, Bach’s relationship with the newer or more unusual instruments, the fortepiano and clavichord (which, of course, was not so new in the early 18th century), has been the subject of some scholarly work. To be sure, the harpsichord came in a rather substantial variety of forms, and certainly the terms often used during the time, “cembalo” or “Klavier,” were mostly generic rather than instrument-specific, but Bach himself had some interest in the newer keyboards. For example, he sold a Silbermann fortepiano in 1749, a couple of years after he had performed on one at the court in Potsdam. His complaint to the maker about the quality of the fortepiano has often been quoted, but there is no doubt that he knew it well. Moreover, one of his students, Johann Friedrich Agricola, noted that he used to play the clavichord on occasion, mainly for improvising smaller chamber works. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eToday, one finds that the various interpretations of Bach’s keyboard works on both older and more contemporary 20th-century instruments can be found in abundance. Luca Guglielmi’s disc adds a slight twist to this crowd by playing a number of small works on three instruments that would have been known by the composer; an Italian fortepiano modeled after a Cristofori original from 1726, a German Silbermann copy from the 1749 model; and a German clavichord after a 1784 Hubert instrument. All of these are tuned so that A=415 Hz, a tuning that would not have been unfamiliar to the composer. Given that these are familiar and oft-recorded works, the main purpose of this disc is to delineate how Bach’s works might have sounded on the three instruments with which he may have been familiar. The eldest is the Cristofori, which is used for the Toccata in C Minor. It has a somewhat stringy and transparent sound. Guglielmi doesn’t stress the action too much, preferring an easy-going tempo, particularly in the fugue. I find that the middle registers of the instrument sometimes are a bit thick, but this does not interfere appreciably with the delineation of the lines. The Silbermann, on the other hand, is a brighter, more resonant instrument. In the opening Praeludium, for example, the broken chords have each tone sustained, almost as if there was a resonating set of sympathetic strings. This may be in part due to Guglielmi’s stately playing, which allows for the resonance to coalesce into subtly dissolving waves of sound. In the C-Minor Partita, the texture is a bit darker, and perhaps a bit more harpsichord-like. The Gigue, for example, has a nice triplet figuration in the middle register, which sometimes outshines the bass line. The two pieces played on the clavichord are far more tinny and have a sort of plucked instrument quality of sound, almost as if they are being played on a mandolin. In the Fugue of the A-Minor Sonata, for instance, the soft sound is like being played through cotton, with little or no resonance at all, and yet the instrumental sounds have a nice attack that allows each line to come through. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAs for the performance, Guglielmi is stately and cautious with his tempos, deliberately allowing for the tone qualities of his instruments to come forward. His phrasing is quite well done and conforms to the often subtle shifts in thematic structure of the works. Given the eclectic nature of the music, this may not be a disc for everyone, but certainly those interested in Bach and the fortepiano\/clavichord will find this disc more than just an archival curiosity. It is a fine study in the timbre of Bach’s time. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003eFANFARE: Bertil van Boer \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Piano Classics","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46013013065962,"sku":"5065001863813","price":10.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/2521543_a3cdb16d-164e-4356-ae97-97e0695d5ff8.jpg?v=1786736477"},{"product_id":"c-p-e-bach-solo-keyboard-music-80736","title":"C. P. E. Bach: Solo Keyboard Music Vol 29 \/ Spanyi","description":"\u003cp\u003eWith this disc, Miklós Spányi completes C.P.E. Bach's set of ‘Zweyte Fortsetzung’ Sonatas, in itself a continuation of two previous sets (Wq 50 and 51). The composer himself clearly regarded the 18 sonatas of these sets as a major achievement. All of them are substantial works but the three included here might be considered the most diverse and original of the entire series. Bach assembled the Wq 52 set for publication in 1763 but Sonata No.4 had in fact been composed twenty years earlier, while No.5 and No.6 are of a later date. Together the three works exhibit Bach’s inexhaustible technique of varying melodies and textures, but they also display new structures and harmonic adventures. Following them on this disc are two of C.P.E. Bach's last compositions in the sonata genre, composed after he had left his post at the court of Frederick the Great in Berlin to take up that of Director of Music in Hamburg. Although Bach at this time more and more often performed on the fortepiano, he still favoured the clavichord, and as late as 1786, when the Sonata in C minor, Wq 65\/49 was completed, he specified the use of the clavichord vibrato known as Bebung in the manuscript score. Throughout this series, Miklós Spányi has often opted for a clavichord – a copy of a rather late eighteenth-century instrument, built in the Silbermann tradition reaching back to some fifty years earlier. This choice has endeared him to many clavichord lovers, including the reviewer in BBC Music Magazine who about an earlier volume wrote: 'Spányi's ultra-sensitive touch adds magic on this delicate instrument. Gentle tonal subtlety provides rich rewards.'\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BIS","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46013163569386,"sku":"7318590020463","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/2849727.jpg?v=1786725978"},{"product_id":"c-p-e-bach-keyboard-music-vol-23-7318590017630","title":"C.P.E. Bach: Keyboard Music, Vol. 23","description":"Classical Music","brand":"BIS","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46013266559210,"sku":"7318590017630","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/2263751_7deafae0-c2ba-4914-a58a-1fbd6851d683.jpg?v=1786749538"},{"product_id":"cpe-bach-solo-keyboard-music-vol-20-180201","title":"C.P.E. Bach: Solo Keyboard Music Vol 20 \/ Miklos Spanyi","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn these five sonatas from the 1760s, the period prior to C.P.E. Bach's departure from Frederick the Great's court in Berlin, we find some of his most attractive writing, in the opinion of Darrell M. Berg, author of the liner notes to this disc and general editor of the complete edition of the composer's works. The fabulous landscapes and high drama of so many earlier works (such as the Württemberg Sonatas on volumes 16 and 17 of this series) are left behind, as are the lyrical intimacy and simplicity of the so-called 'easy' sonatas. Or rather: these qualities are incorporated in the 'new' style and a certain synthesis is achieved. The result is a style featuring Bach's familiar energy and vivacity but with greater equilibrium, resulting in compositions we might - for want of a better term - call more 'classical'. Miklós Spányi has acquired a reputation as a leading interpreter and firm advocate of this music that stands between the Baroque and the Classical period, and which is less well-known than it deserves partly because of the difficulty of classifying it. He has here chosen to perform it on C.P.E. Bach's own favourite keyboard instrument, the clavichord. Spányi's ground-breaking work in this series, and in the parallel one of the same composer's keyboard concertos, will be familiar to many lovers of early keyboard music. It has been called 'a major contribution to recorded keyboard literature' in American Record Guide, to single out one single disc, Volume 17 of this series was selected as Editor's Choice in Gramophone, and described as 'the answer to clavichord fans' dreams'.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BIS","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46013272293610,"sku":"7318590016237","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/2263656.jpg?v=1786742358"},{"product_id":"bach-the-solo-keyboard-music-vol-21-7318590016244","title":"Bach: The Solo Keyboard Music, Vol. 21","description":"Classical Music","brand":"BIS","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46013303423210,"sku":"7318590016244","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/2263657.jpg?v=1786742170"},{"product_id":"frobergers-traces","title":"Froberger's Traces","description":"We know relatively little about Froberger. His many journeys point to a restless spirit, to boundless curiosity and a desire for personal development. At the age of 18, Johannes Maria Bogner was led to the harpsichord, where he first encountered the works of Froberger and he was captivated by them. After he changed to playing the clavichord, he came back to the composer's works. On this recording he presents them in all the intimacy and agitation that the clavichord is capable of realizing.","brand":"Fra Bernardo","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46017673953514,"sku":"4260307432133","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3661162.jpg?v=1786706474"},{"product_id":"mersennes-clavichord-193737","title":"Mersenne's Clavichord","description":"Considered one of the leading early-music specialists in Europe, Terence Charlston introduces a unique instrument in his new release Mersenne's Clavichord, a clavichord built to plans and specifications by Marin Mersenne in his 1636 treatise Harmonie Universelle. This collection includes primarily French compositions of the 16th and 17th centuries, and Charleston vividly demonstrates the now rarely heard sound-world of the instrument which was so familiar to the composers of that day.","brand":"Divine Art","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46025387245802,"sku":"809730513428","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3039249.jpg?v=1786718182"},{"product_id":"6-clavichord-sonatas","title":"6 CLAVICHORD SONATAS","description":"6 CLAVICHORD SONATAS","brand":"Doremi","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46025609478378,"sku":"723721145750","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/750028.jpg?v=1786763349"},{"product_id":"haydn-sonatas-galanterian-to-sturm-und-drang","title":"Haydn: Sonatas, Galanterian to Sturm und Drang","description":"Classical Music","brand":"Loft","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46025991192810,"sku":"617145110923","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1573505.jpg?v=1786748539"},{"product_id":"bach-solo-keyboard-music-vol-22-7318590017623","title":"Bach: Solo Keyboard Music, Vol. 22","description":"Classical Music","brand":"BIS","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46025992175850,"sku":"7318590017623","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1848492.jpg?v=1786722772"},{"product_id":"j-c-bach-keyboard-sonatas-op-5-235111","title":"J. C. Bach: Keyboard Sonatas Op. 5 \/ Susan Alexander-max","description":"These are light, charming pieces. Only one, the sixth and last, spends any time in minor keys, and three of the sonatas consist of two movements each. That said, there are more than a few fully worked out movements, structurally speaking, and the music seems ideally suited to the intimate timbre of the clavichord (sort of like a harpsichord without the sharp “twang”). Susan Alexander-Max plays very well indeed, ornamenting the music liberally but never excessively, and stroking the keys with the kind of sensitivity that produces numerous instances of those dynamic subtleties that made this instrument so popular, despite its evident limitations. She is also very attractively recorded, with an absolute minimum of mechanical noise (some clavichord recordings feature more clicking and squeaking than musical tone). Definitely worth investigating.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e -- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e ---------\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The decision by Naxos to record the six op. 5 sonatas of Johann Christian Bach on the clavichord is a brave one. Even more so than the harpsichord, the clavichord is likely to polarise listeners. In modern parlance its tone might be characterised as 'in-your-face' - neon strip-lighting against the natural daylight of a grand piano. \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cbr\u003e But one thing the soft action of the clavichord does ensure is a sense of intimacy, which is apt for these almost sensual sonatas. Recording quality here is generally good, despite the fact that the very nature of the mechanics of the clavichord makes its sound rather elusive. Probably for that reason it has been recorded quite closely. At least the church setting coaxes as much resonance out of the instrument as it is willing to give. \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cbr\u003e Background noise is minimal, except, strangely, in the final  \u003ci\u003eSonata\u003c\/i\u003e, where there is something very odd going on 'underneath' the recording, as it were. It’s a kind of eerily distorted feedback giving the impression of a neighbour's turned-up television set heard through a wall! Once noticed it is quite distracting, and frankly the producer needs to answer some questions. \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cbr\u003e Bach published these works in 1766 as  \u003ci\u003eSix Sonatas for the Harpsichord or the Fortepiano, Op. 5.\u003c\/i\u003e These were the very first pieces published in London for the newly emergent piano, and Bach is also credited with the first piano recital in public. According to Susan Alexander-Max's liner-notes, dynamic markings, such as frequent  \u003ci\u003epiano\u003c\/i\u003e and  \u003ci\u003eforte,\u003c\/i\u003e indicate a distinct leaning towards the latter instrument of Bach's title. By this time he was already adopting the new square piano by manufacturers Zumpe as his keyboard instrument of preference. Pianists of the period would nevertheless still often have used a clavichord in the home for composition and practice. That is Alexander-Max's justification for performing these works on the clavichord, a 2006 model based on a 1785 instrument. \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cbr\u003e Mozart greatly admired Bach's music, and his own early works are clearly influenced by it. In fact, the young Mozart was so taken with Bach's op. 5 that he recomposed nos. 2, 3 and 4 into an early piano concerto, KV.107. The works are generally in three movements, though nos. 1 and 4 are in an old-school two. By this time Bach was well into his cosmopolitan  \u003ci\u003egalant\u003c\/i\u003e period, as these elegant, nuanced works can testify. The opening theme of  \u003ci\u003eSonata no.6\u003c\/i\u003e bears a brief but striking resemblance to the famous Russian folksong, \"Dark Eyes\". By the end of the movement it has morphed into a melancholy Neapolitan-like song of love lost. By this time the bizarre background noise is all too evident. \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cbr\u003e Alexander-Max's technique is superb on this unforgiving instrument, and she extracts considerable expressiveness from it in the service of Bach's suave, sophisticated music. 74 minutes is a long time to spend listening without a break to the clavichord. In smaller sessions of, say, two sonatas a go, the unique sonorities of this instrument, coupled with the brilliance and imagination of Bach's music, make this an  \u003ci\u003ealmost\u003c\/i\u003e irresistible bargain - were it not for the recording quality lapse. \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cbr\u003e -- Byzantion, MusicWeb International \u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Naxos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46026125410538,"sku":"747313047673","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1813518.jpg?v=1786736870"},{"product_id":"c-p-e-bach-the-solo-keyboard-music-vol-28-7318590020456","title":"C.P.E. Bach: The Solo Keyboard Music, Vol. 28","description":"\u003cp\u003eC.P.E Bach's 'Zweyte Fortsetzung' Sonatas are a sequel to his famous Sonatas with Varied Reprises (1760). Of the six 'Fortsetzung' Sonatas, the first three appear here. The pre-sequel set had proven successful, possibly because it included written-out ‘improvisations’ for repeated sections - a feature, oddly, more or less absent from its two sequels. However, an alternative version exists of the first movement of Sonata No.3, which Miklós Spányi includes here, together with two unrelated 1760s sonatas. The second sequel also includes two stylistically contrasting 1740s era sonatas.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BIS","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46026398957802,"sku":"7318590020456","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/2778024.jpg?v=1786736327"},{"product_id":"bach-preussische-und-wurttembergische-sonaten-5028421943206","title":"Bach: Preussische Und Württembergische Sonaten","description":"The keyboard sonatas of C.P.E. Bach (1714-1788) bear hallmarks of a composer who lived through a significant moment in musical history: he composed his works during the transition from the Baroque to the Classical period. These works are musical landmarks that epitomize the style and values of an era. The Preussische and Werttembergische Sonatas, collected together on this new 3-disc set, exemplify Bach's celebrated style of composition, and reveal the impact of the period's stylistic influences.","brand":"Brilliant Classics","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46026437787882,"sku":"5028421943206","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1968787.jpg?v=1786624436"},{"product_id":"c-p-e-bach-solo-keyboard-music-vol-26-7318590020401","title":"C.P.E. Bach: Solo Keyboard Music, Vol. 26","description":"\u003cp\u003eMiklós Spányi is one of the world’s most acknowledged scholars and performers of the works of C.P.E Bach. On this release he splits Bach’s large “Fortsetzung” Sonatas over two discs and includes the embellished versions that Bach may have intended as study material for his students.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BIS","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46026444996842,"sku":"7318590020401","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/2290380.jpg?v=1786746657"},{"product_id":"bach-the-solo-keyboard-music-vol-17-7318590014240","title":"C.P.E. Bach: Solo Keyboard Music, Vol. 17 \/ Spanyi","description":"Classical Music","brand":"BIS","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46026445586666,"sku":"7318590014240","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/2263490.jpg?v=1786742106"},{"product_id":"c-p-e-bach-the-solo-keyboard-music-vol-30-7318590021255","title":"C.P.E. Bach: The Solo Keyboard Music, Vol. 30","description":"Some of C.P.E. Bach’s large number of single-movement pieces for solo keyboard were published in collections, beginning with the Probestücke (Study Pieces) of 1753, included on Vol. 22 in this series. Here Miklós Spányi presents three other sets intended primarily for didactic use: the two collections of Kurze und leichte Clavierstücke and the 6 Sonatine nuove. Of the 28 pieces contained in them, only one is longer than 3 minutes, the majority being less than two minutes long. Not all his shorter pieces were intended for studying; the closing Abschied for one has an almost private character.","brand":"BIS","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46026476847338,"sku":"7318590021255","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/2951872.jpg?v=1786720721"},{"product_id":"cpe-bach-solo-keyboard-music-vol-16-184425","title":"C.P.E. 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Bach: Solo Keyboard Music, Vol. 27","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis disc completes the set of CPE Bach’s Fortsetzung Sonatas, Wq51 that began in Volume 26 in this series. Although the sonatas were not published together with the composer's own variants on them, such alternative versions exist in manuscript, and splitting this set of large-scale works over two discs, Miklós Spányi also includes recordings of these varied or embellished versions that may represent the composer's revisions but could equally well have been intended as study material for his students.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BIS","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46026587111658,"sku":"7318590020432","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/2368768_beafd4df-2290-4cf4-ae0d-f778e7386579.jpg?v=1786738291"},{"product_id":"cpe-bach-sonaten-fur-kenner-und-liebhaber-241208","title":"C.P.E. Bach: Sonaten fur Kenner und Liebhaber \/ Pieter-Jan Belder","description":"The most boldly original and innovative of Johann Sebastian Bach's composer-sons, Carl Philipp Emanuel did not have to wait long, unlike his father, for public recognition. His music continued to be held in high esteem after his death, with composers such as Mozart and Mendelssohn making detailed studies of his style. Even Brahms took to editing a number of C.P.E. Bach's works. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  Emanuel composed in almost every genre except opera, but keyboard music is without doubt the most consistent thread running throughout his career, with more than 300 works written for this medium alone. Spread over five CDs, this release is dedicated to the six groups of pieces together described as 'für Kenner und Liebhaber' ('for connoisseur and amateur'), his most ambitious publishing venture ever. The collections show a marked difference in style compared to many of his other compositions for keyboard that were strictly leveled at the popular, amateur-intended market: in addition to examples of the rondo, a form then in vogue, we encounter audacious sequences of modulations, an ever-increasing amount of motivic treatment and such styles as the free fantasy -- where Emanuel is at his most modern, the music here often containing no bar lines and demonstrating capriciousness of character through its constant switches between extremely fast passagework, uncertainty of direction and calmness. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  Written for clavichord and harpsichord, these adventurous, highly engaging works are here performed with aplomb by Dutch keyboardist and period performance expert Pieter-Jan Belder. Belder has made many recordings for Brilliant Classics over the years; regarding his recent study of Domenico Scarlatti's Sonatas (93546), Fanfare magazine commented, '...his playing is never less than alive, fresh sounding, and thoroughly engaged in the music's acrobatics and gymnastics...very strongly recommended.' \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  Other information:\u003cbr\u003e  - New recording (2012--2013) played on fortepiano and clavichord.\u003cbr\u003e  - Contains notes on the music and an artist biography.\u003cbr\u003e  - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, the most famous son of the great Johann Sebastian, created his own individual style, in which freedom of expression was the keyword. This substantial collection of keyboard works, \"Für Kenner und Liebhaber\"(for connoisseur and amateur) contains some of his most audacious compositions, in which frequent and abrupt mood changes, improvisatory and declamatory passages without bar lines and wildly digressing modulations are the stylistic landmarks.\u003cbr\u003e  - Pieter Jan Belder is one of the most respected and esteemed keyboard players of today. His immense discography for Brilliant Classics bears witness of a highly skilled and communicative musician, with a deep and innate understanding of the style and performance practice of the Baroque and Classical Period.\u003cbr\u003e  - A perfect preparation of the C.P.E. Bach year 2014!","brand":"Brilliant Classics","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46027363320042,"sku":"5028421944869","price":28.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/2371775.jpg?v=1786738305"},{"product_id":"bach-the-french-suites","title":"Bach: The French Suites","description":"A superbly recorded new version of this cycle. Tilney is internationally known for his harpsichord, clavichord and fortepiano playing, with many solo recordings on DG (Archive), EMI Electrola, Decca, Hyperion, Dorian, Doremi and CBC SM 5000. 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