Gottlieb Garvo

Jazz tribute albums are a dime a dozen. Often comprising familiar, oft-recorded material, many seem indistinct. Not so Hommage à Eberhard Weber, recorded live in January of 2015 on the occasion of the bassist/composer's 75th birthday. It features a host of collaborators and friends with the SWR Big Band under the direction of Helge Sunde. With the exception of Pat Metheny's suite-like composition "Hommage," everything was written by Weber, who is esteemed for his technique and custom-built instruments and as one of the architects of "the ECM sound." He has been unable to play since suffering a debilitating stroke in 2007. Thanks to technology, he is virtually present on two of these performances…

Vittorio Ghielmi is known for the intensity and versatility of his musical interpretations and for his new approach to the viola da gamba and the sound of the early music repertoire. His ensemble, Il Suonar Parlante, is devoted to investigating early music repertoire and has also performed with jazz, flamenco and traditional Asian musicians.

For her first solo album on Linn – she has appeared with her Duo Pleyel partner Richard Egarr on three occasions, and more will come! – Alexandra Nepomnyashchaya has taken the bold route of recording the little-known Gottlieb Muffat. Son of Georg Muffat, who most Baroque aficionados will know, Gottlieb attained far greater success in his working life, ultimately being promoted to first organist of the Austrian Habsburg court. In this double album Alexandra has recorded the lavish Componimenti musicali per il cembalo , a collection of seven ‘suites’ that are rich in texture, emotional range and flamboyant decoration. Carefully notated in the magnificent score, the breathtaking ornamentation is there to add expressiveness to the performance. These works represent one of the pinnacles of keyboard music from the mid-eighteenth century, and deserve their place in the repertoire.