Violin Sonatas 1, 3, 5, 6 & 7
Lina Tur Bonet Violin
Musica Alchemica
Glossa GCD 924701
Full price
The Review
I have been a great admirer of Lina Tur Bonet’s playing for many years, whether on the baroque or modern violin. She is in many ways comparable to Wales’ Rachel Podger, combining faultless precision with infectious energy.
Her recordings of Corelli have drawn praise from many critical sources because she brings a gift of showmanship to her scholarly performances that is audible even on CD.
Biber’s attractive sonatas are less overtly flashy than Corelli’s pieces but they are just as dramatic and demand a high level of virtuosity. Tur Bonet plays with the right weight and authority, letting her violin sing but not afraid to attack the more furious passages with gusto. Biber held some of Salburg’s most prestigious musical posts a century before Mozart and if his music does not have quite the flair of his Italian contemporaries, it makes up for that in sheer elegant invention. The melodies and rhythms start simply and gather complications as they progress, while remaining fully grounded in the way Purcell’s music did – the foot can keep tapping in the manner that Britain’s King Charles II appreciated. While it is sober and thoughtful revelry, it invites movement and, now and then, dancing.
Tur Bonet’s essay in the liner notes is as enlightening as her playing. She catches Biber’s strength perfectly when she writes, “the discussion between what is organised and controlled on one side and that which is entirely fanciful dominates the music of Biber. So, whilst never forsaking the rigour and research by which we have been guided, we have not wanted to give up on risk-taking and improvisation”.
Where she really scores is in her choice of continuo group. Instead of a dominant keyboard, as became the norm for sonata performance from the middle of the 18th century onward, she is supported by a mellow and variable ensemble of lutes, harp, viola da gamba, violine and double bass, along with organ and occasionally harpsichord. Musica Alchemica never get in her way but they produce a full toned accompaniment that lifts the music beautifully. The theorbo and lute playing of Jadran Duncumb and Ramiro Morales is especially sensitive and effective.
This is quickly becoming one of those discs that one reaches for automically for repeated listening, when the world’s cares start to become oppressive. I could not recommend it more highly.
SM