Biber - Sacro-profanum - The Purcell Quartet

Biber - Sacro-profanum - The Purcell Quartet
Chamber | Eac, flac, cue | no log, cover | 2 CD, 569 MB
July 15, 1997 | Chandos | RapidShare

Forget the complicated title: what we have here is a vivacious and charming set of sonatas for stringed instruments and continuo (keyboard instrument or lute). A sonata during the Baroque period could be almost anything, but in this case refers to a multi-movement composition that usually begins with a slow music, ends quickly, and excludes obvious dance music. The famous Battaglia is a program piece that features soldiers marching around, their drunken celebration (in several keys) before battler, the battle itself, and the lament of the wounded. It's great fun, as is all of Biber's music, actually. He remains, along with Zelenka, the great undiscovered master of the Baroque period. Now you know. --David Hurwitz


CD Content

# Sonata, for 2 violins, 2 violas & continuo No. 1 in B minor (Fidicinium Sacro-Profanum No. 1), C. 78
# Sonata, for 2 violins, 2 violas & continuo No. 2 in F major (Fidicinuim Sacro-Profanum No. 2), C. 79
# Nisi Dominus, vesper-psalm for solo voices, chorus, orchestra & continuo in D minor (Vesperae Longiores II/4), C. 22
# Sonata, for 2 violins, 2 violas & continuo No. 3 in D minor (Fidicinium Sacro-Profanum No. 3), C. 80
# Sonata, for 2 violins, 2 violas & continuo No. 4 in G minor (Fidicinium Sacro-Profanum No. 4), C. 81
# Battalia, for 3 violins, 4 violas, 2 violini & keyboard in D major, C. 61 (B. XIV 122)
# Sonata, for 2 violins, 2 violas & continuo No. 5 in C major (Fidicinium Sacro-Profanum No. 5), C. 82
# Sonata, for 2 violins, 2 violas & continuo No. 6 in A minor (Fidicinium Sacro-Profanum No. 6), C. 83
# Laetatus Sum à 7, motet for 2 solo voices, violin, 3 violas & continuo, C. 9
# Sonata, for violin, 2 violas & continuo No. 7 in D major (Fidicinium Sacro-Profanum No. 7), C. 84
# Sonata, for violin, 2 violas & continuo No. 8 in B flat major (Fidicinium Sacro-Profanum No. 8), C. 85
# Balletti Lamentabili à 4, suite for violin, 2 violas & continuo in E minor, C. 59
# Sonata, for violin, 2 violas & continuo No. 9 in G major (Fidicinium Sacro-Profanum No. 9), C. 86
# Sonata, for violin, 2 violas & continuo No. 10 in E major (Fidicinium Sacro-Profanum No. 10), C. 87
# Serenada à 5, for 2 violins, 2 violas & continuo (with optional bass voice) in C major ("Nightwatchman's Call"), C. 75
# Sonata, for violin, 2 violas & continuo No. 11 in C minor (Fidicinium Sacro-Profanum No. 11), C. 88
# Sonata, for violin, 2 violas & continuo No. 12 in A major (Fidicinium Sacro-Profanum No. 12), C. 89
# Passacaglia (Mystery Sonata), for violin solo in G minor (standard tuning), C. 105