Bach: Sonatas for viola da gamba & harpsichord (2010)

performed by François Joubert-Caillet (violin), Harry van der Kamp (bass), Markus Hünninger (organ), Markus Hünninger (harpsichord), Michael Chance (counter tenor), Paolo Pandolfo (viola da gamba)
composed by Johann Sebastian Bach, Paolo Pandolfo

Gambist Paolo Pandolfo, a student of Jordi Savall, has an unorthodox style that listeners either passionately love or are left completely cold by. He has recorded Bach's sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord in the past but returns to them here with a thoroughly unusual reading that, he says, was motivated by the desire to turn the relationship between the two instruments from a contrasting "musical argument" into a "musical conversation." To accomplish this he makes use of the gamba's capability of producing sound ... Read More

Gambist Paolo Pandolfo, a student of Jordi Savall, has an unorthodox style that listeners either passionately love or are left completely cold by. He has recorded Bach's sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord in the past but returns to them here with a thoroughly unusual reading that, he says, was motivated by the desire to turn the relationship between the two instruments from a contrasting "musical argument" into a "musical conversation." To accomplish this he makes use of the gamba's capability of producing sound from "a kind of bowed pizzicato." The instrument is grazed with the bow, creating a quiet, gently percussive sound from both the gamba and the keyboard. The result is an odd sound in which the gamba and the harpsichord seem to be separated only by shading rather than by fundamental differences of texture. You might say that this negates the basic principle of contrast that underlies Baroque instrumental music, but an answer would be that the gamba was always an exceptional instrument... Read Less