Reviewing a previous recording of Jonas Nordberg Dufaut, de Visée, Weiss: Works for theorbo & lute - Nordberg I said “it is obvious that his delicate and precise playing does more than let you listen to the music as it was meant to be. It opens up a whole new world. It brings you back in history, to a time when people still had it”. I’m convinced that many will be pleased that he’s back again with another solo album, this time recorded by BIS in an equally high-quality sound and played with equal distinction.

The chosen works are once more of a not so very well-known composer; each of a short duration, allowing the listener time to savour to the fullest extent the string of pearls thus laced into a joyful parley created by the warm timbre the theorbo is so famous for. Indeed, Karsperger’s is a world of reflection, a world to cherish now that in our time everything moves fast and faster, leaving no or little time to contemplate the essence of things.

Rather than sitting outside on a rocky surface, like Jonas does on the cover, I’d prefer to picture myself in a noble man’s home in Italy, overlooking the autumn coloured Tuscany hills at sunset, sitting next to an open fire with a goblet of Vino Nobile di Montepulciano close at hand. Or, alternatively being anywhere else where this composer found peace and comfort to compose such wonderful melodious lines.

There is no need to say in different words what is said in the introduction above (and for more detailed information I may refer to the excellent liner notes of Anne Marie Dragosits), but let me assure prospective listeners and subsequent buyers that I find everything in this recital so genuinely delightful that I cannot but conclude that it is not only a thoroughly attractive choice for all aficionados of this instrument, but would also be a prime scoop for the many who want to stop the clock ticking our rushed lives prematurely away.

Blangy-le-Château,
Normandy, France

Copyright © 2019 Adrian Quanjer and HRAudio.net

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