Imagination and period-instrument flair are held in perfect accord
THE STRAD RECOMMENDS
The Strad Issue: September 2025
Description: Imagination and period-instrument flair are held in perfect accord
Musicians: Rachel Podger (violin) Brecon Baroque
Works: Biber: Violin Sonatas (1681): no.1 in A major, no.2 in D minor, no.3 in F major, no.5 in E minor, no.6 in C minor; Sonata violino solo representativa in A major
Catalogue number: CHANNEL CCS48525
Rachel Podger’s selections from Biber’s Sonatae Violino Solo, his unprecedented synthesis of musical content, technical demand and artistic substance, eschew the scordatura requirement of the Fourth Sonata but embrace that effect in the middle of no.6. Her assured, stylish playing fluctuates effortlessly from free, quasi-improvisatory sections to daring passages of fleet fingerwork, multiple-stopping, arpeggios, challenging bowings and various other constituents of stylus fantasticus, often triggered by an ostinato bass-line or variation form.
She skilfully makes musical sense of the freewheeling opening figuration of nos.1 and 5, subtleties of articulation and timing combining to convey musicality and meaning in every phrase. She also evidently enjoys the challenges of the extended chaconnes (most notably in nos.1 and 3), no.2’s final variations on a dolorous aria and no.6’s free-flowing passacaglia, and adds tasteful extempore ornamentation throughout. Her inventive continuo group supports sensitively and with considerable artistic licence. Its flexible constitution ensures striking variety of texture and colour, admirably captured in a first-rate recording.
Included as an amusing centrepiece is Biber’s earlier theatrical Sonata violin solo representativa. Podger and her colleagues delightfully demonstrate their expertise in emulating the sounds of, among other creatures, cuckoos, frogs, roosters and cats and, somewhat curiously, musketeers, who march rhythmically to a regular percussive pulse.
ROBIN STOWELL
No comments yet