All the three harpsichords used for this disc are built in the 18th century French manner by the three distinguished makers of today, who have achieved the extraordinary qualities of what they make, comparable with the finest originals from the old days, by the knowlege, experience and instinct from their various activities including the restoration and research of old instruments.
　First of the three, the double-manual harpsichord by Anthony Sidey after a Ruckers grande ravalement must be mentioned. At the beginning of the 18th century in Paris, Nicholas Blanchet, the leading maker of the time, switched his method of making harpsichords from that of the traditional French to that of the Ruckers, the family of the celebrated Flemish makers of the 17th century. The Ruckers harpsichords were very widely known for their exceptionally fine quality and introduced to most of the major courts all over Europe. Blanchet modified a number of Ruckers harpsichords to accomodate the need of the new period for wider compass and extra register. Blanchet's modification including widening the case and the soundboard resulted a totally new kind of harpsichord, with much milder tone quality than the original Ruckers harpsichords had; the strong and characteristic middle range was remained, but the broad bass and singing treble was obtained. Because the French clavecinistes of the time much preferred these modified Ruckers harpsichords to the traditional French ones, Blanchet abandoned the traditional method and other makers followed him. Thus the Ruckers grande ravalement became not only a new trend but a new ideal for the French harpsichord making.
　he Sidey harpsichord is a very faithful replica of one of the typical 18th century French grande ravalement of a Ruckers harpsichord. It was originally a single manual harpsichord by Andreas Ruckers built in 1636, and the ravalement was carried out by Henri Hemsch, one of the well-known Parisian masters in the middle of the century. It is an ideal sort of harpsichord for Bach's French Overture, whose melodical lines often goes very low; it is one of the exceptional features of the piece among the numerous clavier works by Bach. This instrument is also used in the two duo concertos, contrasted to the David Ley harpsichord which has a totally different character.
　What David Ley copied after is a double manual built in 1733 by Francois Etienne Blanchet, the successor of his father, Nicholas. The harpsichords by the Blanchets were with full of small experiments so that all the extant harpsichords differ in details. This 1733 harpsichord shows that Francois Etienne Blanchet wanted to make something totally different in character from the grande-ravaled Ruckers. He tried to make an instrument with much lighter tone quality by means of reducing the weight of the action. This harpsichord was decorated by Huet, a famous decorator of the time. He followed the method of chinoiserie in this harpsichord, but on the outside of the lid, he painted a number of monkeys making music or love, in stead of chinese figures.
　Martin Skowroneck is already a legendary harpsichord maker of today. His harpsichords are so personal and artistically made that they communicate the player to co-operate in making music to create something extraordinary. He never makes exact copies of the originals, because he believes that every good instrument is a living creature. One can see or hear in his harpsichords some important characteristics of the old masters together with Skowroneck's personality. Nicholas Lefebvre in Roen also tried to achieve quite different character in his harpsichord from that of the grande-ravaled Ruckers. The 1755 harpsichord by Lefebvre has much clearer tone quality than the Ruckers grande ravalement, rather than as much powerful or brilliant, which resulted that this instrument is much more suitable for polyphonic texture than most French harpsichords of the time. This character suits the Italian Concerto very much, in which Bach invented many different figures in melodical lines as well as in the bass.
　It is probably not very fashionable any more to use French harpsichords in Bach playing, but one can go deeply to the mind of the French harpsichord makers, trying to find what was intended in each instrument and how inventively and creatively they worked. Then, he will sometimes find the most inspiring features in the instruments for the music, composed a thousand miles away. He will enjoy this discovery, and will remember that: the historical fact that Bach should have played this piece on a harpsichord from Saxony or Prussia does not always indicate the truth that this music should sound best on such insturments.