Un' arpa straordinaria: a CD around the 17th century harp

Together with Lina López (soprano), Fred Uhlig (violone) and Johannes Keller (harpsichord), I played on harpist Vera Schnider’s new album about the role of the harp in early 17th century music. The CD presents the harpist in all her possible roles as a solo player, ensemble member and a continuo accompanist. The many different instrumentations as well as some adventurous arrangements present the listener with a wide variety of sounds.

In the songs for two soprano voices, I perform the second voice on the violin, trying to recreate the speaking of the words with my bow. We also recorded Marini’s famous “Sonata per sonar con due corde”, one of the first pieces explicitly written for violin: the use of double stops makes it unsuitable for any other melody instrument. In our version, the violin is accompanied only by a harp, which gives the piece a somewhat monodic character.

The CD has been released in April 2020 by Ars Productions. More information here.

Thumbail picture by Susanna Drescher.