Vittorio Ghielmi - Short Tales for a Viol (2004)

Short Tales for a Viol is an aptly titled collection of English solo viol music of the seventeenth century: it offers 25 short pieces (many under a minute long) that are vivid, virtuosic, and for the most part unusually programmatic. A few are pavans, preludes, or dances. These works offer examples of unusual stringed-instrument techniques such as col legno (with the wood) and scordatura (retuning) that are generally associated with the violin a century later. Some of the various tunings employed have their own individual names, and Italian viol player Vittorio Ghielmi, a student of Wieland Kuijken, Roberto Gini, and Christophe Coin, expertly handles four viols of various sizes in all their tunings. The little viol pieces themselves are highly individual and a lot of fun. Their composers -- Thomas Mace, John Jenkins, Tobias Hume, William Corkine, and others, several anonymous -- are mostly unknown to the general listener. The music might be classed as semi-popular; it's certainly fun.

Although this disc opens up a delightful repertoire, several off-putting aspects keep it from being as generally attractive as it might have been. Especially on the bass viol pieces, heavy breathing noise distracts the listener from the music. The relentlessly academic liner notes delve deeply into the pointless question of what exactly a "lyra viol" was, not even explaining this arcane issue terribly well, while tantalizing work titles (like "A Laborinth") are ignored. Still, this offbeat disc might even find an audience beyond the world of early music. Folk or country fiddlers could listen profitably to Ghielmi's short tales, for therein lie the origins of the bagpipe, clock, and hunt imitations that have persisted among fiddlers down to the present day.