Benjamin Alard had knocked us down with his volume 5, Toccatas and fugues. He does no less with this 6th, recorded in Provins on two Hamburg instruments from the collection of the city museum: a clavichord from 1763 and a harpsichord from 1740. The first is used in the Little keyboard book for Wilhelm Friedmann Bach, the second in the first book of the Well-tempered keyboard. Both are fascinating, the clavichord for its softness, the harpsichord for its sound palette. Alard stands out by upsetting the order of the preludes and fugues of the first book. He does not proceed by semitones, but rearranges the succession by “tonal attractions”, considering that the collection records in an “alphabetical” order works in no way intended to be played in concert in a row. This obviously disturbs habits, but we let ourselves be all the more subjugated by the proposal as the energy of the artist and his luminous inventions (phrases, polyphony, succession of sound universes) are still contagious. Fascinating album.
Click here for an excerpt.
To see in video