Preludes, Fugues and Fantasies

This programme aims to highlight what composers and performers in the 18th and early 19th centuries did to create not only the music on the page itself, but also live performances. Many gestures were left in skeletal form, allowing the performer (sometimes the composer himself) to create satisfying musical completions. We are in for a treat with that most intimate of sounds – the clavichord – in Europe’s oldest purpose-built concert hall (begun in 1742 and opened in 1748) – a landmark in the history of chamber music, with music by J.S. Bach, and W.F. Bach, and Ludwig van Beethoven, including “early music versions” as well as the ‘Crab Canon’ and the six-part Ricercare from ‘The Musical Offering’ BWV 1079, together with Beethoven’s Two Preludes through all the Major Keys.

Steven Devine, clavichord (unfretted clavichord by Peter Bavington after a c.1770 instrument by J.H. Silbermann)