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Derek Adlam, November 6th 2004
Clare College Chapel, Cambridge.
The Cambridge Academy of Organ Studies' second Study Day in Clare College
Chapel, Cambridge in November 2004 was given by Derek Adlam. He explored the
influence of the clavichord on the performance of the organ music of JS Bach and
his north German contemporaries.
To
an enthusiastic gathering of students, including organ scholars as well as
professional and amateur musicians, he began by demonstrating how correct
clavichord technique, especially the importance of the release of notes,
animates phrasing and interpretation. His emphasis on the clavichord as the
Instrument of Rhetoric was, by the end of the morning session, persuasively
demonstrated on a short recital of JS Bach's music. He gave supporting evidence
of the fluidity and sensitivity demanded from the treatise of Dom Bedos, calling
as evidence the "recording" on paper of a performance by Balbatre.
During the masterclasses, performers, many of whom had never played a clavichord
before, made the most of the chance to move from Mr Adlam's Hass instrument to
the chapel's 1752 Snetzler chamber organ, applying a new physical as well as
mental approach with evident pleasure to the pieces they had prepared by JS Bach
and JG Walther.
Participants and observers were exhilarated by the fresh insights they received
during the day.
Clearly the
recently formed Academy is providing a worthwhile experience for professionals
and students as well as interested
amateurs.
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