Friday night’s recital by Henry Lebedinsky at Bowdoin College’s Studzinski Recital Hall should have been doubly obscure — little-known composers of 18th-century St. Petersburg played on the seldom-heard clavichord. It turned out to be fascinating, showing the Russians adapting to foreign musical influences, and musically appealing.

The clavichord, in which a metal “tangent” strikes the string when the key is pressed, was the household instrument of choice for musicians from Bach to Mozart. It has the expressive advantages of a piano — control of volume, attack and duration — with the added ability to manipulate the sound of the note after it is struck, if the player is good enough.

It has been called the most intimate of keyboard instruments, but its volume is so low that it is virtually impossible to hear in a concert hall without amplification.

Most of the audience at Studzinsky Hall sat on the stage, as close as possible to the clavichord. Once used to the faint tone, which is rather like a harpsichord’s, there appears a surprisingly full range of expressive dynamics. The clavichord is like a great actress, who commands the closest attention when she speaks softly.

The works themselves were quite sophisticated, showing influences of Italian opera, a craze in the court of Catherine the Great, and of German teachers, familiar with Bach and Haydn. A work by Johann Wilhelm Hassler (1747-1822), the Fantasia-Sonata, Opus 4, showed the influence of both, plus touches of C.P.E. Bach and even Beethoven.

Lebedinsky believes that Friday’s performance was the first time the work had been heard before an audience in two centuries. Hassler is the link between Bach and the great Russian composer Mikhail Glinka.

As Lebedinsky pointed out, classical forms came almost immediately under the powerful influence of Russian folk music. Variations of songs were popular. As examples, he played the modern-day premiere of a set on “I am Bored,” by Johann Gottfried Wilhelm Palschau (1741-1815) and on “I’m going to the little river,” by Ivan Yefstafyevich Khandoshkin (1747-1804).

Both were highly imaginative, like Mozart’s variations on popular or operatic airs.

The military Polonaise was also much danced in Russia, and Lebedinsky played two highly accomplished examples which Chopin could have looked to as models.

The recital concluded with a charmingly eclectic Sonata No. 6 in F Major by Palschau. In closing, Lebedinsky noted an important aspect of live performance: “A moment that will never happen again, one of the virtues of live music. It’s 200 years old, but we’re not.”

In keeping with the quiet nature of the concert, the audience applauded by rustling programs.

Christopher Hyde’s Classical Beat column appears in the Maine Sunday Telegram. He can be reached at:

classbeat@netscape.net