Rating: 4/5
Review:
Great music and excellent playing, but...
This is another volume in Hogwood's "The Secret..." series about which I have the same, purely personal, reservations as I do about the others. The idea is good and Hogwood was a superb musician and considerable scholar, but this doesn't quite come off as a top-notch set for me.
The music, of course is excellent, with some quite subtle but interesting differences from the versions we may be used to. Hogwood is a fantastic musician and plays it all wonderfully. However - and this is almost certainly a personal thing - I find the sound of the clavichord somehow rather unsatisfying. It is a small, quiet domestic instrument and it just seems to me to be straining to be heard all the time - fine for practice and personal use but not really for shared performance. This means that for me this isn't a wholly successful set. It is interesting throughout and charming in places but as a satisfying musical experience it falls a little short.
You may well not share my reservations about the clavichord so please don't let me put you off. These are two discs of superb music, excellently performed. They just didn't quite fit my personal taste.
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