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The Excellency of Hand

English Viola da Gamba Duos

Robert Smith (viola da gamba) & Paolo Pandolfo (viola da gamba)

The Excellency of Hand
Smith and Pandolfo enjoy a terrific rapport, sharing an acute sensitivity to balance, ensemble, phrasing and nuance. Hearing them is like listening to an exquisitely choreographed pas de deux,...

BBC Music Magazine, June 20175 out of 5 stars

More reviews

The Excellency of Hand

English Viola da Gamba Duos

Robert Smith (viola da gamba) & Paolo Pandolfo (viola da gamba)

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320 kbps, MP3

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This release includes a digital booklet

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Smith and Pandolfo enjoy a terrific rapport, sharing an acute sensitivity to balance, ensemble, phrasing and nuance. Hearing them is like listening to an exquisitely choreographed pas de deux,...

BBC Music Magazine, June 20175 out of 5 stars

More reviews

About

Following on from his critically acclaimed recording of solo English viola da gamba works (Tickle the Minikin), founder member of Fantasticus, Robert Smith, returns with this album of English works for viola da gamba duo.

Smith is joined in this collaboration by the prolific and celebrated gambist Paolo Pandolfo.

Featuring a selection of seventeenth-century repertoire from Christopher Simpson, John Jenkins & Simon Ives, this album is packed with divisions for duo, which are often intensely virtuosic. Also featured are a selection of preludes from Christopher Simpson’s The Division Viol and an additional Prelude in A minor by gambist Robert Smith.

Released on CD and in digital formats ranging from MP3 up to 24-bit/96kHz studio quality master with a full-colour booklet also available as a PDF.

  • Release date: 31st Mar 2017
  • Label: Resonus Classics
  • Catalogue number: RES10186
  • Length: 73 minutes

Contents and tracklist

Simpson, C: Divisions for Two Viols in G Major, VdGS 28
Work length6:29
Simpson, C: Prelude No. 2 in D Minor
Work length0:18
  • Robert Smith
Jenkins, J: Divisions on a Ground in D Major, VdGS 21
Work length4:19
Simpson, C: Prelude No. 5 in A Minor
Work length1:00
  • Robert Smith
Jenkins, J: Divisions on a Ground in A Minor, VdGS 19
Work length5:47
Jenkins, J: Divisions on a Ground in C Major, VdGS 13
Work length4:56
Ives, S: Ayre for Two Bass Viols No. 1
Work length2:50
Simpson, C: Prelude No. 4 in F Major
Work length0:16
  • Robert Smith
Simpson, C: Division for Two Viols in F Major, VdGS 26
Work length3:07
Jenkins, J: Air with Divisions in C Major, VdGS 11
Work length5:55
Jenkins, J: Divisions on a Ground in A Minor, VdGS 20
Work length5:19
Simpson, C: Prelude No. 11 in B-flat Major
Work length1:24
Jenkins, J: Divisions on a Ground in A Major, VdGS 18
Work length4:07
Simpson, C: Prelude No. 7 in G Minor
Work length1:01
  • Robert Smith
Jenkins, J: Divisions on a Ground in G Minor, VdGS 23
Work length4:02
Ives, S: Ayre for Two Bass Viols No. 2
Work length2:46
Robert Smith: Prelude in A Minor
Work length0:59
Simpson, C: Division for Two Viols in A Minor, VdGS 25
Work length3:52
Jenkins, J: Air with Divisions in C Major, VdGS 12
Work length5:48
Jenkins, J: Ayre for Bass Viols and Basso Continuo in D Minor, VdGS 32
Work length3:21
Simpson, C: Prelude No. 3 in F Major
Work length0:35
  • Robert Smith
Simpson, C: Division for Two Viols in F Major, VdGS 27
Work length5:26

Awards and reviews

June 2017

Smith and Pandolfo enjoy a terrific rapport, sharing an acute sensitivity to balance, ensemble, phrasing and nuance. Hearing them is like listening to an exquisitely choreographed pas de deux, one moment graceful and balletic, the next robust and athletic. Their supple ornamentation, informed by evidence in primary sources, is also most effective
5 out of 5 stars
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