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Solo Viola da Gamba

Main performer: John Dornenburg
Booklet languages: English
Time: 67:09
Release Date: 2004

Review

Centaur's Solo Viola da Gamba presents gambist John Dornenburg in a mixed recital of pieces spanning the core period for gamba literature, from 1605 to perhaps the 1770s. The standout works here are almost from the opposite ends of this spectrum, two short pieces from English composer Christopher Simpson's 1659 publication Division Viol and five movements out of a Carl Friedrich Abel manuscript in the New York Public Library that contains 70 more. This last named source is seldom investigated by gambists as the movements aren't in any order, many do not contain tempo indications, and the notation of the pieces are very loose and open to interpretation. However, it is the main source for Abel's solo gamba music, and Dornenburg presses ahead, arranging five pieces into a suite and revealing how fabulously well suited they are to the gamba; the Prelude is melting, luscious, and emotional stuff. Behind the eccentricities of the much earlier Simpson work is an inquisitive and experimental musical mind, and Dornenburg actualizes this aspect of Simpson's rare music with aplomb. It is not that the other pieces aren't as good, but the Hume, Sainte-Colombe, and Marais works, at least on the surface, would at least seem more common to gamba fanciers. The Partita XII in A minor of little-known composer August Kühnel is a nice bonus and very pleasant, if not as impressive as the other works, and a Chaconne by Marin Marais rounds off this gamba recital with a virtuosic wallop.

The recording, made at Mont La Salle Chapel in Napa, CA, is close and well balanced without being so reverberant that it swallows the instrument. Solo Viola da Gamba by John Dornenburg is a release that folks who love the viola da gamba aren't going to want to miss. ~ Uncle Dave Lewis , Rovi

Performances

Composer	Title	Time
Tobias Hume	Captaine Humes Pauin (No 46 in Musical Humors)	7:09
Tobias Hume	The Spirit of Gambo (Musical Humors, 4)	2:34
Jean de Sainte-Colombe	Pièces de viole seule, 153 pieces (MS. M.3 Bibliothéque Municipale de Tournus) (Allemande)	3:57
Jean de Sainte-Colombe	Pièces de viole seule, 153 pieces (MS. M.3 Bibliothéque Municipale de Tournus) (Courante)	2:18
Jean de Sainte-Colombe	Pièces de viole seule, 153 pieces (MS. M.3 Bibliothéque Municipale de Tournus) (Sarabande)	2:44
Jean de Sainte-Colombe	Pièces de viole seule, 153 pieces (MS. M.3 Bibliothéque Municipale de Tournus) (Ballet)	2:30
Jean de Sainte-Colombe	Pièces de viole seule, 153 pieces (MS. M.3 Bibliothéque Municipale de Tournus) (Chaconne)	3:42
Christopher Simpson	Prelude in D major (from the Division Viol)	1:15
Christopher Simpson	Division (II) for viola da gamba in D major (Division-Viol)	4:52
August Kühnel	Partita 13 for viola da gamba in A minor	10:41
Carl Friedrich Abel	Suite for bass viola da gamba in D minor, WKO 205-209	18:36
Marin Marais	Chaconne, for viola da gamba & continuo in D major (Pièces de viole, Book I, No. 47)	6:51

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