With this recording of The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II, Johann Sebastian Bach’s monumental cycle reaches its natural completion. Together with Book I, these forty-eight preludes and fugues form one of the most far-reaching achievements in Western music — not merely as a compositional compendium, but as a work conceived at the keyboard.

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Throughout much of the twentieth century, the clavichord was largely overshadowed in performances of eighteenth-century music by the harpsichord and, later, the fortepiano. Yet it is increasingly acknowledged that this most sensitive of all keyboard instruments was deeply cherished by composers such as Bach, Haydn, Mozart, and even Beethoven — valued both for its unique sound and for the intimacy it affords to player and listener alike. Nowhere does this intimacy speak more directly than in The Well-Tempered Clavier.

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This second volume is recorded on a clavichord built by Joris Potvlieghe, after descriptions by Jakob Adlung (1699–1762). Adlung — one of the most authoritative theoretical voices of the eighteenth century, alongside Mattheson and Walther — described in 1726 a clavichord type which Joris Potvlieghe has convincingly within Bach's immediate cultural and instrumental context.

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While the first volume of this project was recorded on my own clavichord, the present recording explores a related but distinct instrument. Although both belong to the same family, the differences are subtle yet significant. Transparency across the entire range — from bass to soprano — is remarkable, with a tenor register that is clearly present without ever becoming dominant. Combined with a long-spun, cantabile tone, this results in a sound world of exceptional balance and expressive poise. At times, the instrument seems less like a single keyboard than a small consort of players.

Interpretatively, this recording is guided by close engagement with historical sources and by practical considerations of tempo, articulation, and touch. Rather than treating The Well-Tempered Clavier as a monumental abstraction, each prelude and fugue is approached as living musical discourse, shaped by pulse, proportion, and affect. Heard on the clavichord, the inward concentration and structural clarity of Book II are not softened, but intensified.

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This release completes a two-volume cycle. When placed side by side, Book I and Book II belong together — musically, conceptually, and visually — forming a coherent whole at the very heart of Bach’s keyboard legacy.

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