de Visée: Theorbo Solos (SACD)

Twelve years after his album entitled "Italian Virtuosi of the Chitarrone" (BIS-1899), Jakob Lindberg returns to his magnificent theorbo, which the luthier Michael Lowe built especially for him and which is based on an instrument preserved in the Musée de la Musique in Paris. Due to its length and large number of strings, the theorbo is one of the most spectacular instruments of the early Baroque period and was originally designed for vocal accompaniment, but is also ideal for solo performance. For this CD, Lindberg has selected pieces by Robert de Visée, one of the great French masters of the lute, theorbo and guitar repertoire and a favorite of Louis XIV. The recording contains dances as well as character pieces, including a moving "Plainte" in memory of his two deceased daughters. It also includes De Visée's arrangements of compositions by Lully, Couperin and Purcell as well as his own version of Les Folies d'Espagne, a very popular chord progression that inspired so many composers of his time. Jakob Lindberg writes: "I can't help but be seduced by the grace of the instrument's lines, the resonance of its sounds and the unmistakably French elegance of this remarkable composer."