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Biber: Violin Sonatas (1681)

Ars Antiqua Austria, Gunar Letzbor

Biber: Violin Sonatas (1681)

Ars Antiqua Austria, Gunar Letzbor

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This release includes a digital booklet

Stream now Hi-RES 96 kHz, 24 bit

About

Gunar Letzbor and his ensemble Ars Antiqua Austria have been working with violin music from the Habsburg Empire for decades, and Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber's violin sonatas from 1681 were, as Letzbor himself says, "a milestone in his artistic development". The first recording was made in 1994 and since then Ars Antiqua Austria has regularly performed this repertoire in concerts. While Biber was still largely unknown at that time, the composer and his work are now considered by audiences to be among the greats of the Baroque era. Biber was highly acclaimed by his contemporaries as a violin virtuoso and as a composer.

His portrait shows a noble man with great charisma and a dignified, proud bearing. However, after many years of studying the violin sonatas, Gunar Letzbor has now gained a completely different impression of Biber's personality, namely that of a daredevil and avant-garde composer. His violin sonatas are full of wild ideas, formal boundaries are dissolved, the technical demands go beyond all the limits of violin playing of his time. And most importantly, the emotions reach the limits of the emotional range. Gunar Letzbor puts all this experience into his new recording of Biber's violin sonatas from 1681 and, as with his recording of Biber's rosary sonatas (see PC 10409), once again presents a reference recording.

Contents and tracklist

I. […]
Track length1:07
II. […]
Track length0:42
III. Adagio
Track length1:05
IV. […]
Track length1:02
V. Presto
Track length0:47
VI. Variatio
Track length6:25
VII. […]
Track length0:47
VIII. Presto
Track length0:50
IX. Finale
Track length1:42
I. […]
Track length0:47
II. Aria
Track length1:09
III. Variatio
Track length3:03
IV. Adagio
Track length1:21
V. Forte
Track length1:41
VI. Finale
Track length1:23
I. Adagio
Track length2:11
II. Aria
Track length2:39
III. Forte Presto
Track length4:28
IV. Variatio
Track length5:02
V. […]
Track length0:36
VI. […]
Track length0:54
I. […]
Track length1:20
II. Presto
Track length0:41
III. Gigue
Track length0:52
IV. Double
Track length0:56
V. Più presto
Track length0:38
VI. Adagio
Track length1:38
VII. […]
Track length0:40
VIII. Adagio
Track length0:44
IX. Aria
Track length3:44
X. Finale
Track length1:26
I. […]
Track length2:41
II. Allegro, Variatio
Track length3:37
III. Adagio
Track length1:45
IV. Presto
Track length1:51
V. Aria
Track length3:28
I. […]
Track length1:25
II. Passacagli
Track length5:59
III. Harpeggio
Track length2:25
IV. Gavotte
Track length2:08
V. Adagio
Track length2:04
VI. Allegro
Track length1:55
I. […]
Track length2:13
II. Aria, presto
Track length2:04
III. Più presto
Track length1:55
IV. Adagio
Track length1:47
V. Più presto
Track length0:38
VI. Ciacona
Track length5:36
I. […]
Track length1:16
II. […]
Track length2:29
III. Aria
Track length1:34
IV. Forte
Track length1:10
V. Sarabanda
Track length1:00
VI. Forte, piano
Track length0:51
VII. Allegro
Track length0:19
VIII. […]
Track length2:43
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