The lute by Sixtus Rauwolf heard on this recording was probably built in the last decade of the sixteenth century. Some hundred years later, in 1715, it was converted to suit the musical tastes and demands of the baroque period. For this disc, Jakob Lindberg has chosen works that could have formed part of the repertory of the presumably German owner of the instrument at around the time of its final conversion. For German lutenists from about the middle of the seventeenth century, it was France that provided the aesthetic and musical model, and towards the end of the century, when the lute rather suddenly and inexplicably dropped out of fashion in Paris certain French luthistes travelled abroad and met with great success in German-speaking lands. With them, they took their music and special traditions of lute-playing, evidence of which can be seen in the music of several of the German composers included here. The release closes with a suite of pieces by Silvius Leopold Weiss, the most famous lutenist of the baroque era.

-----

REVIEWS:

He is stately and expressive in Reusner’s Padoana while seizing upon the extravagant trills and strums evoked by the Dufault and the elegant deportment of the Mouton. Lindberg similarly relishes the toccata-like textures, bittersweet harmonies and melodic attractiveness of Kellner.

– Gramophone

The Rauwolf highlights the variegated colours of the music (far more than a modern lute could), and its lower courses have a plangent resonance…Given pride of place at the end of this parade is Silvius Leopold Weiss, whose music Bach admired and arranged. Lindberg luxuriates in Weiss’s rich and varied style…The recording – like the instrument itself – is velvety and intimate.

– BBC Music Magazine