This CD is a co-production from Paladino Music together with the
Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, which has a substantial collection of
playable historical instruments. The claviorganum is, as its name suggests,
a combination instrument amounting to a square piano sitting on top of a
chamber organ. This particular example was made in about 1785 by organ maker
Franz Xaver Christoph (ca. 1728-1793), but there are examples of this kind
of instrument dating back to the mid-16
th century, and the
tradition of combination keyboards survived until the late 19
th
century. These were however never a popular or mainstream option, as they
would have been highly expensive and more often than not built to commission
from affluent nobility.
The description in the booklet reveals the remarkable sophistication of
this instrument, its only real disadvantage being the lack of a conventional
sustaining pedal/damper, which means certain passages will inevitably sound
over-pedalled, though this somehow fits in with the mechanical magic of the
whole thing. The combination can for instance be heard to great effect in
Kauer’s
Sonata militare, which is full of programmatic colour and
interest, from its tender opening to the sometimes melodramatic dramas which
unfold later on, this is the perfect kind of piece for this instrument.
There is novelty value in performances of better known pieces on this kind
of instrument, but familiarity also orientates the ear towards its
characteristics, and Mozart’s
Fantasie KV 397 is in that regard the
ideal opener. The piano sometimes seems to have much the greater volume over
the organ, but this is the nature of the instrument and of register
selection rather than the recording – the organ on occasion acting as a kind
of sonic ‘filler’ or continuo. Indeed, there are some pieces played on organ
alone, and the richness of sound in the pipes of this compact instrument can
be explored in the
Praeludien by Albrechtsberger and elsewhere.
Sweet dissonances make Beethoven’s
Op. 39/1 something of a
highlight, stretching the mean-tempered tuning to the limits of credibility.
The square piano without pedal can have the feeling of a hammered dulcimer,
and the opening of C.P.E. Bach’s
Fantasie has a refreshingly Balkan
feel as a result, Thomas Schmögner taking the dynamics down to almost zero
db at more than one point, and you can imagine the 18
th century
audience on the edge of their seats or reaching for their ear-trumpets.
Mozart’s
Adagio in C for Glass Harmonica will be familiar to
those who have a taste for unusual instruments, and the glorious mixture of
sustained organ notes and chiming piano strings in the same register creates
a strikingly believable imitation of the original. The grand finale comes in
the form of an extended
Fantasie by Josef Preindl, which presents a
series of variations on themes from Haydn’s oratorio
De
Jahreszeiten. This piece is another great showpiece for the various
sounds of the claviorganum and the virtuoso capabilities of its
performer.
With a fine recording, excellent performances and good documentation this
CD comes highly recommended. The entertaining nature of the programme is
more than just a bonus, and while this kind of release will always have
novelty status it in fact deserves to be right up there on your list of
authentic early music desirables. Despite some restoration this
claviorganum, the only working example surviving, represents the sounds of a
long-lost past. As a design it might not have taken off, but it would have
been the advanced Digital Sound-Sampling keyboard of its day, and I for one
am delighted to give its charming sonorities a place in my home.
Dominy Clements
