What an artist - what a human being


radiomovies has left a new comment on your post "Jordi Savall and the just-in-time interview":
What an artist, what a human being. His recordings of Tobias Hume pieces (say it quietly) make the Bach solo Suites sound pale. Any composer who can write a piece called 'Whoopee do me no Harme', at the beginning of the 17th century, has to be a good thing...

best PDS
Philip, thanks for giving me the opportunity to feature Jordi Savall's CD of the overlooked and underrated Tobias Hume (1569?-1645). It also allows me to showcase another disc that has been giving me a lot of pleasure, this time by the Italian viola da gamba player Paolo Pandolfo, who was an early member of Jordi Savall's Hesperion XX. Carl Friedrich Abel's music is even more neglected than that of Tobias Hume. Which is quite surprising as Abel (1723-1787) was a close associate of J.S. Bach and composed a symphony in E flat (Op. 7 No. 6) which was erroneously attributed to Mozart (KV 18). Carl Friedrich Abel's music is a rich vein waiting to be mined. His output included 46 symphonies, six flute concertos, six piano concertos, 21 quartets and a lot more. Paolo Pandolfo has started the exploration with an outstanding new recording of four of Abel's suites for viola da gamba for the innovative Spanish Glossa Label. Read Pandolfo on Abel and improvisation here. While on another path Paolo Pandolfo expresses himself as a great human being in Baghdad's Spring.


The Carl Friedrich Abel CD was bought from Prelude Records, the Tobias Hume disc from HMV online. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

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Anonymous said…
Pandolfo is incredible. His disc 'a solo' features some of the Hume pieces. The liner notes show that you can be a quiet virtuoso, hold strong views and keep your integrity intact.

It's one of those CDs where the recording quality, the programme of works, the content of the notes and the design all converge beautifully. No point in buying it on itunes - it's actually a nice object (unlike certain other record companies' products where you can feel the profit margin in the horrible paper stock, ugly typography and total lack of space for decent notes).

I've bought copies twice but keep giving them away. Have to get another...

Abel was a hell of a character. I've played his Bb cello concerto which feels like a cross between Hedbden, JCB and Mozart... it's really good!

I'm buying the Abel disc right away. Thanks for featuring it.

best as ever
PDS
12:28 pm
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