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Biber - Just Biber: Violin Sonatas | Channel Classics CCS48525

Biber - Just Biber: Violin Sonatas

£13.98 £12.83

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Label: Channel Classics

Cat No: CCS48525

Barcode: 0723385485254

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Genre: Chamber

Release Date: 4th July 2025

Gramophone Editor's Choice

Contents

Works

Biber, Heinrich Ignaz Franz

Sonata violino solo representativa in A major
Violin Sonatas (8) (1681)
» no.1 in A major
» no.2 in D minor
» no.3 in F major
» no.5 in E minor
» no.6 in C minor

Artists

Rachel Podger (violin)
Brecon Baroque

Works

Biber, Heinrich Ignaz Franz

Sonata violino solo representativa in A major
Violin Sonatas (8) (1681)
» no.1 in A major
» no.2 in D minor
» no.3 in F major
» no.5 in E minor
» no.6 in C minor

Artists

Rachel Podger (violin)
Brecon Baroque

About

Following up her critically acclaimed recording of Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber's Rosary Sonatas (CCSSA37315), violinist and musical director Rachel Podger leads Brecon Baroque on Just Biber, an album of Sonatas from Biber's 1681 collection Sonatæ Violino Solo and his theatrical Sonata Representivo. These works are extremely virtuosic with extensive multiple stopping and dazzling passages of stylus fantasticus. In Biber’s time, harmony was something cosmic, vibrating in a God-given resonance between human, instrumental and celestial bodies. Dedicated to Archbishop Maximilian Gandolf, the sonatas were not only designed to delight, but also potentially to balm and heal; Biber described the sonatas as a kind of prayer for the Archbishop’s longevity and good health.

Sound/Video



Reviews

If you had told me at the start of the week that I’d still be listening to Biber on Friday, my response would have been dusty and unprintable. ... What changes my mind in this album is the slinky, fun-loving playing style of violinist Rachel Podger and the Brecon Baroque period instrumentalists. I’m guessing these musicians play standing up because there is a bounciness to the six sonatas that I’ve not heard before in Biber.  Norman Lebrecht
Ludwig Van (Toronto) 16 May 2025
The pieces are all characterised by their extreme technical difficulty, and especially by their extensive use of scordatura, when individual violin strings are tuned differently from usual. Podger copes with all these challenges quite brilliantly, including imitating the sounds of animals in the Sonata Representivo; she brings an expressive freedom that never takes too many liberties, but remains true to the spirit of the music.  Andrew Clements
The Guardian 27 June 2025
Podger’s wonderful album, pairing her dynamic fiddling with equally colourful playing from members of Brecon Baroque, features five of the eight violin sonatas Biber published in 1681. ... the music is always seductive, notably in the movements when exuberant and florid variations are laid over an unchanging ground bass.
The Times

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