Pianist
Andras Schiff used to be skeptical of historical instrument performances. No more! "When I'm at home, my day always begins with
Bach. It used to be on the piano, now it's on the clavichord, even before breakfast," he effuses. "I feel reborn. My ears, my mind, soul and spirit are cleansed." Arguably he has even gone beyond the common run of early music performances, for clavichord recordings are not terribly common even though, as
Schiff's annotator here points out,
Bach's first biographer
Forkel called the clavichord
Bach's favorite instrument.
Schiff delves deeply into the clavichord's intimate nature, imbuing the works here with a wonderful exploratory quality. Perhaps the final
Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, BWV 903, works less well in this context; it is a more flamboyant work. However, until that point, the program has a cumulative effect, as if one is going into the
Bach rabbit hole with a master artist.
Schiff has an odd opening choice: the programmatic
Capriccio sopra il lontananza de il fratro diletissimo, BWV 992 ("Capriccio on the Departure of a Beloved Brother"), doesn't seem to fit with the abstract Inventions and Sinfonias that make up the main body of the program. Perhaps
Schiff was trying to establish an intimate atmosphere where
Bach was playing music for a few friends. At any rate, there is much to consider here and much to savor; historical instruments have not fundamentally altered
Schiff's approach, but they have deepened it. It is unsurprising that this release landed on classical best-seller charts in early 2023. ~ James Manheim
![Hector Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique [2019]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/3149020934531_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "Hector Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique [2019]")
