Domenico Scarlatti: Sonata in G major, K. 260, played on a clavicytherium built by Steven Sørli.
(Hear this sonata on the harpsichord at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2qUoiC0v-U and on the piano at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZzaNdBYyYQ .)
I have owned this instrument for exactly one day, and this is my first attempt at recording on it. It is a clavicytherium, or upright harpsichord, and a lautenwerk, being fitted with synthetic gut strings. To find out more about this fine instrument and several others built by Steven Sørli, visit his web site at
http://www.lautenwerk.com/index.htm --- look at the various instruments he builds, and listen to the excellent sound samples.
The strings of the instrument, as you will find when reading Mr. Sørli's web site, are mostly fluorocarbon, rather than real gut, with the bass octave strings of copper-wound nylon. It has one choir of 8' strings with a range of GG-d3. The total height is 81" and takes up only a 36" by 18" floor space.
In this piece, I must confess that I played the very last left-hand note an octave lower than written, in order to demonstrate the rich bass tone of this instrument.