These 18 “Practice Pieces” were composed to go along with C.P.E. Bach’s epochal treatise on the art of keyboard playing. Organized into six three-movement sonatas and closing with an emotionally gripping Fantasia, they admirably summarize the technique of the day while providing a series of studies of increasing difficulty and elaboration. The expressive complexity increases with the technical demands, from the first sonata’s Allegretto tranquillemente opening, to the Fifth’s Adagio assai mesto e sostenuto and concluding Allegretto arioso ed amoroso. They are marvelous pieces.

The clavichord was known for having a limited dynamic range, but it was still a big improvement on the harpsichord. For these pieces, Bach runs the gamut from ff to ppp, and perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of Miklós Spányi’s performance is his generous observance of Bach’s contrasts in volume (incidentally, a lovely and inexpensive facsimile edition of these pieces is available in the Packard Humanities Institute’s ongoing complete C.P.E. Bach edition). The instrument itself has an attractive sound, not too thin, with a bit of mechanical noise, and enough sustaining ability to give the Bebung and numerous pauses on juicily dissonant chords plenty of atmosphere. BIS’s sonics, fairly close but also resonant, add to this impression. Definitely worth owning.