[ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD ]
Release Date: Friday 17 May 2024
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12 years after his album entitled 'Italian Virtuosi of the Chitarrone' (BIS-1899), Jakob Lindberg returns to his magnificent theorbo, specially built for him by the luthier Michael Lowe, based on an instrument preserved in the Musée de la Musique in Paris. One of the most spectacular instruments of the early baroque owing to its length and great number of strings, the theorbo was originally designed to accompany the voice, but is also ideally suited to solo performance. For this disc, Lindberg has chosen pieces by Robert de Visée, one of the great French masters of the lute, theorbo and guitar repertoire and a favourite of Louis XIV. The recording features dances as well as character pieces, including a moving 'Plainte' in memory of his two deceased daughters. It also includes de Visée's arrangements of compositions by Lully, Couperin and Purcell as well as his own version of Les Folies d'Espagne, a very popular chord progression that inspired so many composers of his time. Jakob Lindberg writes: 'I can't help but be seduced by the grace of the instrument's lines, the resonance of its sonorities, and by the unmistakably French elegance of this remarkable composer.'
On paper, this is straightforward music, often consisting of no more than two lines with occasional chordal fillings-in, but Lindberg's theorbo has such a commanding presence that one is simply enthralled... This is deeply intelligent and sensitive playing; I urge you to hear it.
- Gramophone
This selection of suites allows Lindberg majestically and authoritatively to traverse a range of affects and styles. Among such treasures it is impossible to assign a hierarchy to these lithe, mercurial and delicately nuanced offerings.This is sublime music played and recorded to perfection. Bravo!
- Music Magazine
Suite in A minor
Suite in D major
Pieces in D minor
Pieces in C Minor
Pieces in G Major
Suite in E minor
Folies d'Espagne