Biber: Sonata violino solo representativa in A

“…Just how rich is Teldec’s potential for remastering accomplished performances for its Das Alte Werk label can be gauged from this cultivated and vital Biber recording dating from 1971…where Harnoncourt’s group plays brilliantly” Gramophone Magazine

“While the more famous Mystery Sonatas have quickly found friends, the 1681 set is still largely unknown. Yet what's immediately noticeable from this premiere recording of the sonatas is that Biber isn't only a legendary virtuoso, probably never bettered in the 17th or 18th centuries, but one of the most inventive composers of his age: bold and exciting, certainly, but also elusive, mercurial and mysterious. Most of the works are preludes, arias and variations of an unregulated nature: improvisatory preludes over naked pedals and lucid arias juxtaposing with eccentric rhetorical conceits are mixed up in an unpredictable phantasm of contrast, and yet at its best it all adds up to a unified structure of considerable potency.
Andrew Manze is the player par excellence for music that requires a considered response to complement the adventurous spirit of the virtuoso.
This is masterful playing in which he doesn't overcharacterise Biber's volatile temperament.
The preludes are sweet and restrained, yet there's also a held-back, almost smouldering quality, skilfully pitched against the free-wheeling energy of the fast music.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“A no-holds-barred account of this eight-sonata set, together with the Sonata Representativa. Letzbar meets Biber's technical demands masterfully.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2011 ****

“Harnoncourt's 1969 survey of 17th-century programme music at last surfaces complete. It fully lives up to its billing, never overdoing the silliness even in Schmelzer's zaniest moments.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2008 ****