Josh Cheatham is an important representative of the new generation of viola da gamba virtuosi. For his first solo recording, he has chosen a French programme of works of Marin Marais (1656-1728) and Le Sieur de Sainte Colombe (1630/40-1691/1701). No one will forget the story of the master Sainte-Colombe and his protégée Marais, who hid under Sainte-Colombe's garden-house while he practiced the viol, in an attempt to learn further secrets of the art of viol playing. One will also recall that French Baroque music is one of the greatest of the European decorative arts of this period.The viola da gamba was known an instrument in the spotlight, and theFrench musicians pushed the instrument to great limits in order to exploit the maximum in expressive, instrumental and emotional resonances.The addition of the seventh string to the bass viol is said to have been the invention of Sainte-Colombe, and thisaddition provided added compositional possibilities, character, colour and effects to the music. Sainte-Colombe and Marais were viola da gamba virtuosi who had close relationships with the instrument makers who created their vehicles of expression, on which a great part of performance and interpretation ultimately depends. In this programme which he created with viol player Julien Léonard and harpsichordist Skip Sempé, Josh Cheatham gives performances which demonstrate that a new generation viol players are ready to flourish. These remarkable musicians possess both the mastery and the panache which allows them to play this music and to convey the singular warmth of the sound of the viola da gamba with uncommon expressivity. Since the golden age of the viola da gamba, no other instrument has ever succeeded in replacing its magical sound and temperament.