A Lute by Sixtus Rauwolf

Works by Dufault, Mouton, Kellner, Reusner, Pachelbel & Weiss Jakob Lindberg (lute)

BIS BIS-2265 (hybrid CD-SACD) 81:50 mins

A rare survivor from the 16th century, this lute by Sixtus Rauwolf is given top billing on Jakob Lindberg’s new release – and rightly so: Shakespeare might have had such an instrument in mind when he wondered how gut strings could ‘hale souls out of men’s bodies’. The original Renaissance structure was modified in 1715 when extra courses (pairs of strings) were added to keep up with musical fashions; Lindberg has selected repertoire from this later period to showcase its full potential. We hear French dance suites by the 17th-century lutenist François Dufault, who fathoms the instrument’s deepest registers, and Charles Mouton, who weaves delicate, lacey textures. The Rauwolf highlights the variegated colours of their music (far more than a modern lute could), and its lower courses have a plangent resonance.

There are Germanic works, too. Bach’s contemporary, David Kellner, conjures up pealing bells in ‘La Campanella’, while a ‘Mr Pachelbel’ (possibly Johann, of ‘Canon’ fame) solicits the instrument’s soft strings to evoke sighing, consoling lovers. Given pride of place at the end of this parade is Silvius Leopold Weiss, whose music Bach admired and arranged. Lindberg luxuriates in Weiss’s rich and varied style: improvisatory in the opening prelude, poetic in the sarabande, and wistful in the chaconne (a piece that seems to anticipate the Aria of Bach’s Goldberg Variations). The recording – like the instrument itself – is velvety and intimate.

Kate Bolton-porciatti PERFORMANCE ★★★★★ RECORDING ★★★★★