Ryan Layne Whitney: Scarlatti, Sonata in G, K. 260, on Sørli clavicytherium

Domenico Scarlatti: Sonata in G major, K. 260, played on a clavicytherium built by Steven Sørli.

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.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• classical
• upright
• harpsichord
• clavicytherium
• lautenwerk
• Sørli
• Sorli
• Scarlatti
• K260

[sosome57]

How many keyboard instruments do you have in your house?

[teafruitbat]

@sosome57 Seven!

[sosome57]

@teafruitbat You must have a very big house. Do you own all of them or are they on loan? I was just looking at your uploads. You're very prolific. Thank you for the beautiful music. Have you made any recordings?

[teafruitbat]

@sosome57 I have a very small condo, around 800 square feet! All of the instruments are mine. Three of the small clavichords sit on a special rack I had built on the wall, and my large harpsichord (soon to appear on YouTube) has a special stand that allows it to swivel up and stand against the wall. I am fairly expert in other ways at making the most of my space.

[ChucklesKeys]

WOW! What a beautiful instrument! Great playing too!

[Offshoreorganbuilder]

Excellent.

[harpsi8]

Dear Sir where are the jacks I don't see a jack rail.

Your playing is wonderful the highest skill level and beauty.

A harpsichord fan of 40+ years

[coolitnowjim]

a beauty, my friend.

[VonBlargh]

@teafruitbat ah... its is a lovely sound and due to their rarity i guess its stil a guess what they might sound with metal strings...though you might be right about the Met's Clavicytheriums they do not have this harp like opening but a body akin to an upright piano.

[baroqueboy]

I have always wanted one of those Sørli gut-strung clavicytheria. Maybe one day. Yours sounds great. You might try playing some really early stuff like Paumann and Cabezón on it. Or maybe selections from Fitzwilliam.