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Guest post by Clare Stevens

Have you ever heard a cembal d’amour? Have you even heard of it? I certainly hadn’t before attending this year’s Early Music Festival in Haapsalu, Estonia. One of the weekend’s concerts was a duo recital by keyboard players Taavi Kerikmäe and Anna-Liisa Eller. While Eller switched from the psaltery to its larger sibling the arpanetta – double-sided and chromatic, like a harpsichord standing vertically upright – to the Estonian kannel – a chromatic zither – and folk kannel, Kerikmäe played the cembal d’amour, a brand new instrument completed earlier this year by Latvian harpsichord maker Kaspars Putrinš.

As far as is possible it is a reproduction of a keyboard instrument invented by Gottfried Silbermann (1683–1753) of Freiburg. Silbermann’s work as an organ builder was highly regarded by J S Bach, and he was also well known for his clavichords, one of which was prized by C P E Bach. He created the cembal d’amour in 1721, to a commission from the Estonian composer, performer and poet Regina Gertrud König (née Schwartz), wife of Dresden’s court poet Ulrich König. It was a clavichord with strings of approximately twice the normal length, which were struck by their tangents at precisely their midpoint – it seems that what König was after was a louder sound than the traditionally very quiet clavichord.

Cembalo d’amore
(photos by SabineBurger)

Silbermann’s original instrument has not survived, but its invention was announced in the Leipzig-produced Sammlung von Natur-und Medicin-, wie auch Hierzu gehörigen Kunst-und Literatur- Geschisten (Catalogue of natural and medical, as well as related art and literary histories) for July 1721. It was pictured in the June 1723 edition of the same publication and in a coloured drawing among the papers of the composer and musicologist Johann Matheson, a contemporary of Silbermann. Another description and diagram can be found in J F Agricola’s annotations to Jacob Adlung’s Musica mechanica organoedi (1768).

Taavi Kerikmäe is best known as a composer and performer of contemporary and experimental music, both film scores and art music; he is Head of the Estonian Contemporary Music Centre, and has collaborated with composers such as Pierre Boulez, Kaaija Saariaho, Tristan Murail and Louis Andriessen. But he has recently been exploring early music, especially clavichords, in performance with his duo partner Anna-Liisa Eller (who is also his wife).

Their Haapsalu recital consisted entirely of music by David Kellner (?1670 –1748), a composer, organist, poet and musicologist who was also the stepfather of Regina Gertrud König, commissioner of the first cembal d’amour. Born in Germany, Kellner studied at Estonia’s University of Tartu from 1694 and married König’s mother Dorothea Schwartz, daughter of the city’s mayor. He is known to have applied for the position of organist in the Swedish church in Tartu, later worked for a short time as organist of St Nicholas Church in Tallinn, and in 1732 published a treatise on continuo-playing which was printed in Swedish, German, Dutch and Russian, and survives in numerous reprints. Unfortunately the only music by Kellner to have survived is a collection of sixteen lute pieces in tablature, published

in 1747. Eller and Kerikmäe have arranged these for the assortment of instruments that we heard in Haapsalu, adding a basso continuo to bring out the beauty of Kellner’s music, which they feel is a hidden treasure of Estonian baroque music, and deserves an audience beyond lute and guitar players. Taking place in the gorgeous sixteenth-century Lutheran Church of St John, the concert was one of the quietest I’ve ever attended – despite the cembalo d-amour’s additional power compared to a normal clavichord – but the beauty of the different instrumental timbres repaid the intensity of the listening experience as these skilled musicians presented a sequence of elegant dance movements, taken mainly from Kellner’s Fantasias in different keys.

The day after the showcase concert Kerikmäe and Kaspars Putrinš set up the cembal d’amour in the salon of the Lahe Guest House for an afternoon lecture-demonstration that allowed audience members to experience the sound in a more intimate acoustic and find out more about the reconstruction project. Kerikmäe began by explaining for the non-specialists among us the crucial difference between a harpsichord, which has plucked strings, and a clavichord, where they are hit, and how this means that the harpsichord is louder, but the clavichord allows for more dynamic variation according to the pressure exerted by the player, so it is more subtle.

Silbermann’s concept for the cembal d’amore was not just to do with its extra long strings, but the fact that they vibrated independently from two bridges, one in the normal position to the right of the keyboard, and one behind and to the left of the keyboard, resonating from two soundboards on two sides of the irregularly-shaped instrument. We don’t know whether König wanted it to accompany herself singing or to use as part of a chamber ensemble, but the name is believed to derive from its suitability for performances alongside the viola d’amore.

Other contemporary makers did try to copy Silbermann’s idea, but he was very protective of his concept and sued them. Only one antique instrument survives, in a Helsinki museum, but it is much damaged. There were several twentieth-century versions, but most are now lost and they do not seem to have been designed to the same proportions as Silbermann’s. Putrinš explained that his new instrument is not a copy but a prototype, based primarily on the Matheson drawings. Building it was a challenge, but has provided a starting point for further exploration.

Kerikmäe and Eller are also keen to draw attention to the legacy of Regina Gertrud König, who was highly respected in her lifetime and can probably be considered as Estonia’s first female composer, but they are hampered by the fact that none of her music has yet been discovered. For now her influence is primarily represented by the instrument that she commissioned and its latest incarnation.

More information about the music of David Kellner and about the Kerikmäe Eller Duo: www.davidkellner.eu

(Photos by Clare Stevens)

Clare Stevens is a freelance writer, editor and publicist, specialising in classical music, choral music and music education. After 30 years living and working in London, she is now based in the Welsh Marches.

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Duncan Honeybourne (piano) & Leora Cohen (violin)

This interesting new release from British pianist Duncan Honeybourne, with British-American violinist Leora Cohen, introduces the hitherto little-known music of Jessy Reason, known somewhat cryptically during her lifetime as “J. L. Reason”.

A long-forgotten, enigmatic figure, Jessy Lilian Reason, née Wolton, was born in London in 1878, the daughter of a wealthy hop merchant. In 1902, in Cornwall, she married a gentleman of private means twenty years her senior, with whom she settled firstly in Devon and later in Tonbridge, Kent. In the late 1920s the couple made a final move, to Reading, where Jessy died in 1938.

In May 1992 a writer called Alan Poulton discovered a large stack of handwritten music manuscripts in a second-hand bookshop. He purchased the collection and during the 2020 Covid lockdown, now retired and with time on his hands, he set about exploring and cataloguing the manuscripts, and researching the life of the woman who had composed 70 handwritten works in the early decades of the twentieth century. The paperwork accompanying the collection reveals that Mrs Reason studied composition with the renowned composer and conductor Eugene Goossens; she was then in her mid-40s, her tutor some 15 years younger. How much of Reason’s music was performed during her lifetime remains unclear: all that has come to light so far is a performance of a single song at London’s Wigmore Hall and a song cycle given at a minor concert in West London, all in the early 1920s. (The current catalogue of Reason’s music, compiled by Alan Poulton, can be found on the British Music Society website.

Pianist Duncan Honeybourne is a passionate advocate for lesser-known and rarely-performed music, and this new release by Prima Facie Records reflects his unerring ability to unearth really fine music and bring it to a wider audience by recording and performing it (see also his release, also on the Prima Facie label, of piano music by William Baines). On this recording he is joined by young British-American violinist Leora Cohen. She brings a wonderful range of colours and nuance to the Three Poems for Violin and Piano, matching Honeybourne’s playing with a remarkable sure-footedness, sensitivity and musical maturity.

This disc presents Jessy Reason’s entire output for solo piano, together with the Three Poems, and as such is a wonderful introduction to Reason’s writing. She was clearly a highly-skilled yet largely self-taught composer and musician (her writing for piano reveals an intimate knowledge of the geography of the keyboard): in his biography of his mother, Richard Reason describes her as “an ardent musician, with a fiery style of violin-playing . . .teaching herself the whole technique of writing for full orchestra”. Her scores, some of which I have seen, thanks to Duncan Honeybourne, are elegantly crafted and neatly laid out.

Leora Cohen
Duncan Honeybourne

By turns richly romantic, impressionistic, darkly lyrical, sensuous and harmonically complex, there are hints of late Brahms, Debussy, Ravel, even early Messiaen in Reason’s sophisticated, inventive music. This inspiring legacy of work is brought vividly to life by Duncan Honeybourne on a piano contemporaneous with the music, a 1922 Bösendorfer.

Piano and Chamber Music by Jessy Reason

Duncan Honeybourne (piano) with Leora Cohen (violin)

Prima Facie Records, July 2024

leoraviolin.com

duncanhoneybourne.com

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Described by superstar pianist Lang Lang as ‘A genius…The new Bach’ during his performance on Channel 4’s popular and inspiring programme The Piano, Michael Howell is a young self-taught composer, singer and pianist from a working class Caribbean-Jamaican background in west London.

Praised for his other-worldly counter-tenor voice and his ability to touch audiences with his lyrical Latin-esque operatic language and Baroque-inspired piano accompaniment, Michael’s performance in London’s Victoria Station had the audience spellbound and secured him a place in the programme’s final, where he performed his own composition, ‘Great Is The Grief’.


‘Are you telling me he’s an amateur musician? This is incredible, this is not amateur….This is a pure talent. This is really something that’s very rare. It sounds like a new Bach is born from the middle of a train station in London.’ – Lang Lang

‘It’s gorgeous. That’s gorgeous!’ – Mika, singer-songwriter and co-judge of The Piano

‘Phenomenal’, ‘Sensational!’, ‘just incredible’ – audience/viewer comments via TwitterX

Find out more about Michael in this Meet the Artist interview:

Michael Howell’s website

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A few months ago, I met the parent of one of my former piano students at an event. I was pleased to hear that the student (we’ll call her Jane) was now studying English Literature at one of the UK’s top universities, but the most gratifying piece of news was that she was still playing the piano and enjoying it. Jane’s mum told me that she liked to download music from the internet and play it for the sheer pleasure of doing so. “You gave her a love of music”, Jane’s mum said, “and that’s the most important thing!”.

I was so touched to hear this, as I think any teacher would be. Because surely our fundamental role, as teachers, is to encourage a love of music?

(This is one of the pieces Jane played for her Grade 5 exam, which she passed with a high merit)

Jane started having lessons with me as quite a young child, and at that age (5 or 6) she was very quiet and lacked confidence. But gradually, as her piano skills developed and blossomed, so too did her confidence, to the extent that she began to play with real poise, beautiful tone production, and above all a sense of real pleasure in the music she was learning.

Piano teachers – indeed all music teachers – have the unique opportunity to shape not only the musicianship and technical ability but also the lifelong relationship that their students have with music.

Here are 5 tips for encouraging a love of music in students:

1. Create a Positive Learning Environment

A nurturing atmosphere allows students to feel safe to explore and express themselves through their playing, and a place where students feel comfortable sharing their thoughts, questions, and concerns. By actively listening and addressing individual needs, teachers can build a strong rapport with their students and create an environment that nurtures a genuine connection with music.

2. Share the Passion

Enthusiasm is contagious A piano teacher who exudes enthusiasm for music can ignite a similar fervour in their students. Enthusiastic teachers inspire curiosity and a desire to explore beyond the confines of the lesson, encouraging students to discover their own musical tastes and interests.

3. Treat your students as individuals

Every student is unique, with distinct musical tastes and preferences – yet too often teachers take a “once size fits all approach” which does not take this into account. Customise your teaching to suit each student by getting to know what kind of repertoire they prefer, their particular strengths and weaknesses, and their approach to learning. In other words, show that you really “know” each and every student personally.

4. Connect music to everyday life

Classical music in particular suffers from an image problem and many young people today regard it as old-fashioned, highbrow or simply not for them. Show students how to relate musical concepts to real-life experiences, emotions, and events, and how music fits into everyday life, such as in film or TV soundtracks. By illustrating the universal nature of music and its ability to communicate feelings, teachers can instil a sense of purpose in their students, fostering a connection between the notes on the page and their own emotions.

Dance of the Knights (theme from The Apprentice TV show)

5. Encourage individual creativity and expression

Beyond technical proficiency, a true love of music involves the ability to express oneself creatively. Piano teachers can inspire this by encouraging students to experiment with interpretation, dynamics, and even composition. Allowing students to infuse their personality into their playing brings a sense of ownership and pride in their music and this sense of empowerment and personal autonomy contributes to a lasting passion for music that extends beyond the confines of the instrument.


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