This CD provides a representative survey of the evolution of music for the bass viol from its beginning until its extinction at the times when the Viennese classic style emerged.
The programme is framed and punctuated by works by two main figures of violplaying, Tobias Hume (c.1569-1645), whose First Part of Ayres was the first volume of music written expressly and exclusively for the bass viol ever published in print; and Marin Marais (1656-1728), gamba-player at the court of Louis XIV. Inserted in this framework are pieces by Johannes Schenck pupil of Marais’ and active in Amsterdam and Düsseldorf, by the pupil of Marais, Louis de Caix d’Hervelois, as well as works by Karl Friedrich Abel (1723-1787).
Ralph Rousseau Meulenbroeks showed his prodigious talent at an early age playing the piano and (bass) guitar at the age of eight. He later combined double bass studies with a masters and Ph.D. in physics. He has played double bass in the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, working with major conductors such as Riccardo Chailly, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, and Nikolaus Harnoncourt.
