FORQUERAY Pièces de viole avec la basse continuë Paris, 1747
Paolo Pandolfo
GCD 920412 2 CDs
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Performing artists
Paolo Pandolfo, viola da gamba
Guido Balestracci, viola da gamba Rolf Lislevand, theorbo & Baroque guitar Eduardo Egüez, theorbo & Baroque guitar Guido Morini, harpsichord
Production details
Recorded in Montevarchi di Arezzo, Italy, in February 1994 and April 1995 Engineered by Luciano Contini and Valter Neri Produced by Paolo Pandolfo and Luciano Contini Executive producer: Carlos Céster Design: Valentín Iglesias Booklet texts:Edmond Lemaître, Pierre Jaquier English Français Deutsch Español
Links & downloads
Commercial release sheet (PDF)
Buy this product
ANTOINE FORQUERAY, le père (1672-1745)JEAN-BAPTISTE FORQUERAY, le fils (1699-1782)*
Pièces de viole avec la basse continuë(Paris, 1747)
CD I [75:30]
Première Suite 1 Allemande. La La Borde 2 La Forqueray 3 La Cottin 4 La Bellemont 5 La Portugaise 6 La Couperin
Deuxième Suite 7 La Bouron 8 La Mandoline 9 La Dubreuil 10 La Leclair 11 Chaconne. La Buisson
Quatrième Suite 12 La Marella 13 La Clement 14 Sarabande. La D’aubonne 15 La Bournonville 16 La Sainscy 17 Le Carillon de Passy 18 La Latour 19 Le Carillon de Passy
CD II [71:06]
Troisième Suite 1 La Ferrand 2 La Regente 3 La Tronchin 4 La Angrave* 5 La Du Vaucel* 6 La Eynaud 7 Chaconne. La Morangis ou La Plissay*
Cinquième Suite 8 La Rameau 9 La Guignon 10 La Léon. Sarabande 11 La Boisson 12 La Montigni 13 La Silva 14 Jupiter
About this CD
Marin Marais and Antoine Forqueray represent the two leading figures from the world of the French viola da gamba with – in the opinion of a contemporary in Hubert Le Blanc – the former playing like an angel and the latter like a devil. And fiendishly difficult to play, of course, are many of the pieces brought together in the volume prepared by Jean-Baptiste Forqueray (“le fils”) in 1747, two years after the death of his father, and drawn from sketches and memories. These Pièces de viole avec la basse continuë, dedicated to Princess Henriette of France (the younger of Louis XV’s twin daughters), serve as a final and grand homage to an instrument, which after seventy years of an absolute rule was by that time starting to cede territory to the cello...
Glossa is now bringing back into circulation – in a newly-prepared edition – the recording which introduced Paolo Pandolfo to the label, where he was joined by a starry group of fellow performers in Guido Balestracci, Rolf Lislevand, Eduardo Egüez and Guido Morini. The exemplary texts of Edmond Lemaître and Pierre Jaquier further enhance a legendary album, one which confirmed Pandolfo, now some fifteen years ago, as one of the greatest viola da gambists of our own present times.
Along with Paolo Pandolfo’s new recording of the Bach Viola da gamba Sonatas we are providing an opportunity to see and hear this thoughtful and thought-provoking musician talking about his current approach to the music of JS Bach; in particular, to what he considers as ‘new music’ (Sonatas) written by the composer for an old instrument (the viola da gamba) as compared to the Six Cello Suites, which were ‘old music’ for a new instrument. Pandolfo has also recorded these Cello Suites for Glossa. [read more...]
It seemed that the music of Carl Friedrich Abel was proving singularly impervious to modern performance initiatives. More is known about the life and times of this Köthen-born composer than about his actual music (he can be placed as a pupil of JS Bach and as someone who died in the year of the 17 year-old Beethoven’s first visit to Vienna). Yet it was as a virtuosic improviser on the by then (surely?) outdated instrument of the viola da gamba that Abel was equally known for by his contemporaries. So, the most suitable candidate in the 21st century for bringing back Abel’s music to its rightful place needs to be not only a supreme interpreter on the viola da gamba and steeped in its repertory but one capable of understanding the almost lost art of improvisation. [read more...]
Widely admired as a virtuoso exponent of the viola da gamba through his concert performances and recordings of key composers from Germany, France, Spain, England and his native Italy, Paolo Pandolfo has in recent years been concentrating on his instincts and skills for improvising and composing (not to mention continuing with his teaching). An artist who can bring out the expressive vitality and poetry in the viol music of composers such as Sainte-Colombe, Marin Marais or J.S. Bach is plainly also relishing the challenges of other musical explorations that have included, on disc, an unaccompanied tour de force in A Solo and a travelogue (from this artist who is a modern, high-tech nomad himself) in Travel Notes. [read more...]