This has been the month for concerts, beginning with the Kalamazoo symphony, then Classics Uncorked chamber recital, the Detroit symphony, two of the incredible Gilmore keyboard events here, and topped off with our last Detroit symphony concert Thursday, which happened to be our 43 wedding anniversary.
Two of my college friends, Lynn and Greg, formed an early/Renaissance music group, with Lynn playing the harpsichord, Greg the viola de gamba and two others on recorders. I was hooked from their first recital, but live performances aren’t real common! One of the Gilmore artists was Corina Marti who played early flutes (blown into as with a recorder) and the clavisimbalum.
Clavisimbalum – Luthier: Rafael Marijuán Linked from Collection of Musical Instruments with History
Don’t feel bad if you’ve never heard of the clavisimbalum. According to Wikipedia and the concert notes, this was one of the first keyboard instruments, the ancestor of the clavichord and harpsicord. Ms. Marti told us that the best known story is that a young man travelling to Florence stopped at a noble’s castle where he wowed the family with his new instrument. This was cutting edge stuff back in the 14th century!
The sound is so different from the piano, not as sonorous, and you can hear the little hammers strike the wires. Hearing it you can see that keyboard instruments really are related to percussion, something that doesn’t seem real listening to a piano concert.
Her clavisimbalum looked a little like Schroeder’s piano in Peanuts, except the wires extended back in a triangular shape about 2 1/2 feet. The keyboard was wood and covered about 2 1/2 octaves, with both black and white (actually tan since they were wood) keys.
If you have a chance to see a live early music concert then try it. You might like it. In the meantime here is a video of Ms. Marti playing her flutes and clavisimbalum.
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