Luogo e data di registrazione		Schloß Bad Krozingen (Germania) - 1979
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Recording Supervision		-
	Edizione LP		TELEFUNKEN - 6.42073 AP - (1 LP - durata 42' 57") - (p) 1979 - Analogico
	Originale LP		-
	Prima Edizione CD		-
	Note		Produced by Toccata

The origins of the clavichord go back to ancient times. This instrument was developed from the monochord, a resonance box with strings, on which the regular relation of string length to the pitch of the tone could be studied by graduating the string. Towards the end of the Middle Ages, it appears as a musical instrument as the monochord was combined with the keyboard of an organ. Small flat brass blades, the tangents, at the end of the key levers strike the strings at different points and cause them to vibrate when the key is depressed. The clavichord was regarded as the ideal instrument “for study or in general for private musical entertainment.” Despite its unusually low timbre, it was, for several centuries, just as widespread as the harpsichord, as it has a number of superior qualities: it is small, light, wieldy, is mechanically reliable and simple which, however, demands a sensitive command; it has a highly agreeable sound due to the great variety of overtones. The era of sentimentality which followed the change of style towards the middle of the 18th century was the golden age of the clavichord. At this time, it was praised especially for its dynamic power of expression and its sensitive timbre as the “solitary, melancholic, unspeakably delightful instrument ... He who has an aversion to reveliy, fury and tumult and whose heart often delights in sweet sensations, will pass by the harpsichord and the pianoforte and choose the clavichord” (Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart, 1785). Throughout this period, the harpsichord remained the preferred concert instrument, whereas at the time the pianoforte had neither the richness of tone of the harpsichord nor the expressive qualities of the clavichord. Only decades later would it supplant both of them. Until then the clavichord remained the most widespread keyboard instrument and was called simply “clavier.” It was of great importance in the particularly active musical life of the German burgher. The most famous performers on this instrument were the sons of Johann Sebastian Bach, especially Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, whose improvisations on the clavichord won the admiration of his contemporaries. Although their compositions for clavichord were also played on harpsichord or pianoforte, they only attained their singular beauty when played on the clavichord with its “responsiveness to the stiriings of the soul.” The lack of richness of sound of this otherwise so perfected instrument has often been regretted. Nevertheless its particular charm lies precisely in the clavichord’s faint whisper, which demands the listener’s utmost concentration. Therefore the tone of the clavichord should by no means be amplified in reproduction. Only when the listener plays the recording so low that he must concentrate and listen in total silence, will he understand the exuberant praise of the “mild clavier.” Rolf Junghanns (English translation by Elisabeth Geiger)