Pur Ti Miro – Wu Wei, Martin Stegner, Janne Saksala

An entirely new world of sound opened up for me. I had never heard early music like that before: so rich in colour, so immediately moving – says violist Martin Stegner of his first experience playing Monteverdi with Wu Wei, master of the sheng, the traditional Chinese mouth organ. The range of colours that Wei can coax from his instrument is remarkable, as is the sonic blending of sheng, viola and double bass in this Chinese-German-Finnish trio. Bassist Janne Saksala, who like Stegner, is also a member of the Berlin Philharmonic, shares the violist’s sense of improvisational curiosity.

Here the trio plays Claude Monteverdi’s Si dolce è’l tormento and Pur ti miro from L’incoronazione di Poppea, J. S. Bach’s organ trio sonatas Nos 1 and 4, and Antonio Vivaldi’s D minor Trio Sonata, in a programme completed by a Norwegian folk tune. The players “explore the freedom the music offers. With respect, but also with a desire for discovery” .