eVIOLution / Fernando Marin

$18.99
Format
Added to Cart! View cart or continue shopping.
EVIOLUTION : Music for Vihuela de Arco, Lyra-Viol, and Viola da Gamba • Fernando Marín • QUARTZ QTZ 2075 (52:31). ORTIZ Tratado de Glossas. CABEZÓN...


EVIOLUTION : Music for Vihuela de Arco, Lyra-Viol, and Viola da Gamba • Fernando Marín • QUARTZ QTZ 2075 (52:31).


ORTIZ Tratado de Glossas. CABEZÓN Faberdon. FERRABOSCO Fantasia a 3; Lessons for the Lyra-Viol. SAINT-COLOMBE Pièces de Viole. DE MACHY Pièces de Viole. TELEMANN Der Getreue Musikmeister: Excerpts. ABEL Pièces de Viole


The section of Matthias Grünewald’s stunning Isenheim Altarpiece known as the Concert of the Angels features a group of cheerful angels playing three mysterious instruments. The instrument that appears in the forefront is most likely a viola da gamba, but I have always wondered what the other two were. I think I now know the answer: they are a vihuela de arco, a guitar-like instrument that also can be played with a bow, and a lyra-viol, an instrument that appears to be a cross between a viola da gamba and a lira de arco. If you wonder what these instruments must have sounded like—albeit when placed in the hands of men—this concept recording, which features Spanish musician Fernando Marín and is cleverly titled eVIOLution , is your chance to find out.


Marín has made a career out of researching the origins, methods of playing, and repertoire of various rediscovered instruments. On this recording, he plays modern reproductions of a vihuela de arco (tuned at 440 Hz), a lyra-viol (tuned at 415 Hz), and a viola da gamba (tuned at 390 Hz and 415 Hz). Keeping with tradition, Marín’s instruments also feature sheep-gut strings, Venice catline gut-roped bass strings, and black horsehair for the bows. The repertoire chosen by Marín to showcase these arcane instruments is, for the most part, equally obscure, but it too seems to attempt to illustrate an evolution of sorts, from the early essays of Spanish Renaissance composers Diego Ortíz and Antonio de Cabezón to the Baroque works of Georg Philipp Telemann and Carl Friedrich Abel. While I frankly do not know what a vihuela de arco and a lyra-viol are supposed to sound like, I have no doubt that Marín presents these buzzy instruments in the best light. As for the music itself, this recording is certain to invite debate: Can one really explain Bach (a contemporary of Telemann) and Mozart (a contemporary of Abel) using the theory of musical, rather than instrumental, evolution ? Perhaps the naysayers are on to something.


The quality of the recorded sound is very good. There is a lot of reverb, but that is suitable to this music. A worthwhile release.


FANFARE: Radu A. Lelutiu


Product Description:

  • Release Date: September 14, 2010


  • UPC: 880040207528


  • Catalog Number: QTZ2075


  • Label: Quartz Music


  • Number of Discs: 1


  • Composer: Various


  • Performer: Fernando Marin