classic concert

Johann Sebastian Bach The 3 sonatas for viola da gamba & obbligato harpsichord BWV 1027 -1029
Rebeka Rusó - viola da gamba (two original instruments by Jacob Stainer)
Peter Waldner - harpsichord
In J.S. Bach's time, the viola da gamba was already considered somewhat old-fashioned in many places; in Italy, for example, it was hardly ever played, and in southern Germany it was rarely played. What a stroke of luck that this beautiful-sounding instrument continued to be held in high esteem in Central Germany of all places! Otherwise, Bach would probably not have bothered with the composition of three exquisite sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord in Köthen, where he not only had a gamba-playing employer and superior in Duke Leopold, but also had an outstanding viol virtuoso at hand in Christian Ferdinand Abel. What marvels these pieces are! In the Köthener Hofkapelle, a top-class elite ensemble which Bach presided over as a well-staffed Kapellmeister from 1717 to 1723, there is evidence that string instruments from the Absam workshop of the famous Tyrolean violin maker Jacob Stainer were played. So it is authentic in a special way when the viola da gamba player Rebeka Rusó - accompanied on the harpsichord by Peter Waldner - plays not only her own Stainer viol for the interpretation of the three Bach sonatas, but also another viol by the Tyrolean master, which has been on loan to the Tyrolean Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum since 2019.