Paolo Pandolfo - Marais 1689 (2016)

The viola da gamba music of Marin Marais represents a treasure trove of expressive and technical possibilities for Paolo Pandolfo s eagerly-awaited return for Glossa. Pandolfo s style of playing is apt for this music: meticulous and sensitive, with a technical strength that allows him to demonstrate the instrument s versatility with a rare freedom. To follow a recent sequence of recordings which has seen him approach the music of Couperin and De Machy, but which also includes the 'Pièces de viole' by Marais teacher Sainte Colombe, Pandolfo now turns to the year 1689, when Marais (surrounded by constant arguments as to the true way of doing justice to the gamba) had published the continuo accompaniment for his earlier 'Pièces à une et à deux violes'. This was quite a revolutionary move on the young composer s part. To reflect this transition effected by Marais from the gamba being an instrument heard by itself to one operating within a chamber ensemble environment Paolo Pandolfo has chosen from this 'First Book' works for one or two gambas, with or without continuo support, in the form of a pair of 'Suites' and various individual pieces, including the 'Tombeau de Mr Méliton' and the rarely recorded set of variations 'Sujet & Diversitez'.

**** 'Paolo Pandolfo s stylish new album highlights that moment a radical and definitive change in the French gamba style, he calls it and there s a cheerful conviviality in Markus Hünninger s busy harpsichord lines, Thomas Boysen s warm theorbo and a pliant, second gamba voice from Amélie Chemin.' --Kate Molleson - The Guardian, 28th January 2016

Performance: ***** Recording: **** 'Few Gambists are better versed in this repertoire than Paolo Pandolfo, whose playing is supple, poetic, effortless. For the ensembles, he s joined by three accomplished musicians, all fully conversant with Marais s intricate idiom. Pandolfo and fellow gambist Amelie Chemin dialogue and vie delightfully in the pieces for two viols, and Hunninger and Boysen s continuo realisations have all the finesse and sparkle of a Baroque jewel box. In their hands, the music breathes and dances.' --Kate Bolton-Porciatti - BBC Music Magazine, March 2016

'Pandolfo is one of the most elegant and expressive viol players around, and showcasing Marais individual genius in such sympathetic company, with such an immersive recording as well makes this a sublime experience to anyone whose soul is sensitive to the instruments plangent melancholy.' --Andrew McGregor BBC Radio 3 Record Review, 13th February 2016