Description

With the critically acclaimed gamba duo Les Voix Humaines, here is Volume 1 of the complete works for two viols by Sainte-Colombe, considered by some as the greatest 17th-century gambist. Sainte-Colombe’s life remains a mystery till this day; what is no mystery, though, is the emotional depth of his works. They are marked above all by their great expressive range, their contrasts in tessitura and tone, and the variety and emphasis of colour and affetti, as notes author Pascal Quignard. This is the beginning of an extraordinary and thrilling project, delivered by “the two members of Les Voix Humaines, [whose performances] are absolutely superb, encompassing all the poetic intensity of Sainte-Colombe’s music” (Brian Robins, Fanfare November/December 2001).