In the stillness of Aurodhan gallery, the music flowed from an instrument of the yore. The mellifluous notes mesmerised the small audience and the generous applause was the only heavy sound that punctuated the sweet silence pervading there.
When international composer Hendrik Bouman presented a concert this weekend, the instrument he was playing held more interest than the notes it produced.
From a distance, one might mistake the musical instrument for a piano, but the keen assemblage at the gallery crowding around it after the concert discovered it to be a clavichord, an almost forgotten and seldom heard musical instrument.
The stringed instrument is of delicate build and produces sounds that are softer than the piano.
“The clavichord was used largely as a practice instrument for musicians to rehearse their compositions, for it was expensive and difficult to practice on the organ every time,” said Bouman, imitating the action of pressing the pedal on the church organ.
The soft sounds of the clavichord have always been intended for a smaller audience.
Over the years, it had been played in family gatherings and domestic settings. It is rarely or almost never played on stage.
Bouman himself usually plays only the harp and finds it a challenge to play an instrument that is almost forgotten.
Interestingly, the clavichord that Bouman coaxed gently, to produce melancholic and vibrant notes, was built by him, mainly out of cedar wood. “I built it with the help of instructions obtained from books. The instrument was popular in part of Europe till the 18 century.”
Bouman played classical compositions that have been revered through the ages. The notes often reached ebb that could have gone unheard, unless the listener is intently aware.
“I remember attending a concert when I missed the first few notes. Then I found my hearing attuning to the sound of the instrument and I was conscious of every note played thereafter,” Bouman shares.
In an age when music is often produced for the masses, with spectacularly arranged stage shows, the clavichord is a reminder of a time when music was enjoyed by the musician and the immediate listener making it intensely personal.
