Gambist

This 2CD set aims to give the listener a good idea of the range of music composed by a remarkable musical dynasty, the Forqueray family. They were a family of organists, viol players and harpsichordists. They were every bit as remarkable as the other great musical dynasties, the Bendas, Stamitzs, Bachs, and the Strauss family. The most famous member of the Forqueray family (their Johann Sebastian) was Antoine, who was born in 1672, a virtuoso gambist. His output forms the backbone of the French repertoire for this instrument.

The recently rediscovered, so-called Pembroke collection owned by the Abel-pupil Lady Elizabeth Herbert, Countess of Pembroke and Montgomery (1737-1831), contains 14 previously unknown viol works (ten sonatas and four duos for viola da gamba and cello) by Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-87), which he composed for himself and his talented pupil. Specifically, these expressive pieces are late works that show Abel’s special way of playing. For Coviello, viola da gambist Thomas Fritzsch presents the world premiere recording of these musical jewels.

Sharon Bezaly has demonstrated her great gifts as a flutist on a number of recordings on BIS ranging from the concertos written for her by renowned contemporary composers, including Sofia Gubaidulina and Kalevi Aho, to the classic staples of the flute literature such as Mozart’s concertos and flute quartets. Along the way there has been a wealth of imaginatively programmed recital discs, focusing on the great flute sonatas as well as the French flute tradition.

This is Lucile Boulanger’s first solo recital. The French gambist, universally praised for her natural and moving playing – BBC Music Magazine even described her as ‘the Jacqueline du Pré of the viola da gamba’ – juxtaposes Bach with Carl Friedrich Abel, a great master of the bass viol and a close friend of the Bach family. Although Johann Sebastian never wrote for solo viola da gamba, we know that he transcribed many of his works for other instruments. So Lucile Boulanger has chosen, for example, to transcribe three dances from the Sixth Suite, ‘because it sounds particularly good on the viol, being written for five-stringed cello (a step towards the six or seven strings of the viol?). It is in D, the viol key par excellence, and its style, already somewhat galant , is reminiscent of Abel… This album gives me the opportunity to showcase the viol as both a melodic instrument – with the grain of the bow, the fragility of tone – and a polyphonic one.’

François Couperin's Leçons de Ténèbres, set to the Lamentations of Jeremiah and intended for use on Thursday of Holy Week (they may have been part of a larger set, now lost), would seem on cursory hearing to be light-years removed from his glittering keyboard works, so redolent of the hothouse atmosphere of the French court. Listen again, however, and you find connections: Couperin transfers his uncanny way of making an ornament hang in the air to these deeply serious, arioso settings of the Lamentations for one or two voices, plus continuo…

Euskal Barrokensemble & Enrike Solinís - Euskel Antiqva: Legacy of the Land of Basque (2015) {Alia Vox AV9} (Jordi Savall rel.)
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 298 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 135 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 407 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2015 Alia Vox | AV9910
Classical / Chamber Music / Basque / World Music

The name of gambist and conductor Jordi Savall's new Alia Vox Diversa label may seem puzzling, inasmuch as it's hard to imagine anything more diverse that the existing Alia Vox catalogue, covering music that spans half the globe. The unifying factor seems to be that Savall himself is not present; the leader of the Euskal Barrokensemble here is multi-instrumentalist Enrike Solinís, a member of Savall's Hesperion XXI. The music is for the most part not "Baroque" but covers a wide range of music associated with the Euskel Antiqva, the Basque legacy.

Blandine Verlet, a noted French harpsichordist, studied with Ruggiero Gerlin and Ralph Kirkpatrick. She began recording in the late 1970s for Philips, switching to the Astree label in the 1990s. Her recordings range from J.S. Bach's keyboard works to Froberger to lesser known composers such as Louis Couperin and Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre.