Thomas Fritzsch

Did Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart compose for viola da gamba? Certainly! His father Leopold Mozart bears witness to this. Joseph Fiala, the most famous viola da gamba player of the time after Carl Friedrich Abel, was Mozart‘s close friend and lived in Mozart‘s Salzburg birthplace from 1778 to 1785. Echo Klassik prize-winner Thomas Fritzsch performs on Fiala‘s 1709 Salzburg viola da gamba, which Mozart undoubtedly got to know. Together with Michael Schönheit on an original tangent piano and the ensemble Merseburger Hofmusik, gamba compositions by Mozart and Fiala can be heard for the first time.

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.

Buxtehude began his activity at St. Mary’s Church exactly 350 years ago, and the City of Lübeck fittingly commemorated this anniversary by awarding this year’s renowned Buxtehude Prize to organist Harald Vogel. Matched by no other musician, Vogel has distinguished himself both in historical organ playing in general and with Buxtehude’s oeuvre in particular. To celebrate this occasion, MDG is now releasing a highly interesting new edition containing all of Buxtehude’s works from the Codex E. B. of 1688 and including - as a surprising rarity - the recording premiere of a sonata with obbligato gamba.