in Early Music Today (Mar, 2016)
Biber’s ‘Mystery’ or ‘Rosary’ Sonatas have long been considered one of the pinnacles of the Baroque violin repertoire: comprising three sets of five sonatas rounded offwith a solo Passacaglia, each sonata is rich in descriptive detail and rhetorical figures, and – in an especial challenge to both the brain and fingers of the soloist – each requires the violin to be tuned in a different way, a technique known as scordatura.
Rachel Podger’s recording has been long anticipated (not least by me), and years of study of and living with the works shine through in her radiant playing. From the opening of the first sonata and its theme and variations, this …
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