Sonora Mazuren

Heinrich Biber - Mensa sonora, seu Musica instrumentalis (1680), Sonata in A major
Classical, Baroque | 1 CD | EAC | FLAC, CUE, LOG | Scans | 306 MB | Rapidshare
Recorded: 1-3 Oct. 2006, St Bartholomew's Church, Oxford, Suffolk | Released: 2008 | Label: Chandos CHAN 0748 | TT: 59:13
The Purcell Quartet (Catherine Mackintosh, Catherine Weiss - violin | Richard Boothby - violone | Robert Woolley - harpsichord) with Jane Rogers - viola

Mensa Sonora means ‘Harmonious Table’ and was music composed for aristocratic dining. The diners present during this Tafelmusik would have missed much had they allowed knives and forks to drown the melodies, rhythms and harmonies which Biber produced. These are by and large upbeat pieces, but not in any way superficial or slight. One is struck particularly by the high degree of virtuosity – but to a purpose. The violins in particular carry forward the momentum, linger on the tender and underpin the subtle and perhaps less obvious. […]
The Purcell Quartet has the gift of producing a particularly unified sound. The beauty of each member’s tone is not lost and is there to be enjoyed, as in the first movement of the Sonata in A major. Yet the unison effect achieved by musicians so well in tune with one another adds to the pleasing and compelling texture of these unpretentious yet delightful pieces. (Mark Sealey, musicweb-international.com, 2008)