The revival of the lute and its repertoire in the later twentieth century has been so thorough that it is difficult now to remember how much a "distant shore" the instrument seemed to musicians even a few generations ago. Like the cornett or the viola da gamba or the harpsichord, it was an instrument - and a repertoire, and a set of performance practices - that was all but dead for many years, that needed to be revived more or less from scratch. As for the lute music of the later Baroque period, it represents an instrument long past its heyday: even late-Baroque musicians themselves considered the lute a distant shore - an anachronism.

This recording is another one of those gimmick" discs that Tacet is constantly throwing our way, with the end result being some seriously good listening for everyone. The concept here has the violinist, Saschko Gawriloff, playing seven different violins, of different vintages, in a kind of "show-down." All seven violins are used to play the Sarabande movement from Bach's Partita No. 2 in D, and then several of the individual violins are used for a variety of pieces including works from Veracini, Kreisler, Dvorak, Paganini and Webern. It's much more than just an exercise, hearing the seven instruments back-to-back playing Bach, and really interesting how very different they all do sound, indeed! The remaining tracks are all accompanied by Kira Ratner on piano, and all tracks are recorded using vintage tube microphones. The sound quality is uniformly superb, regardless of which layer you choose to listen to, though the SACD tracks get my nod for best overall sound. As with the Bach disc above, the multichannel layer uses the surround channels for additional ambience, which does help provide an improved perception of image depth. The supplied booklet has numerous photos, along with a brief history of each violin's maker. So which of the seven violins is the big winner? That's hard to say ? they all have their own uniquely impressive musical qualities ? but I don't think it's a coincidence that soloist Saschko Gawriloff chose three of the Cremona violins for use in three of the five additional works found on the disc. Whether the Guarneri, Stradivari or Amati was in use, each sang with a beauty and purity of tone that was just unmatched by the rest of the competition. Maybe there was something in the water, or the soil that the trees grew in that provided the wood for these incredible instruments ? whatever, nothing in modern times comes even close. Highly recommended." Tom Gibbs Total playing time: 52'40

Kevin Bowyer...has chosen to produce a series of carefully planned recitals, using the same Danish organ throughout, rather than grouping works together in their respective genres... Volume 2, a predominantly cheerful programme, brings more examples of Bowyer's lively rhythmic sytle and appealing colours and husky reeds of this fine Danish organ. -- The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs & DVDs