Paolo Pandolfo BACH The Six Suites

Originally released in 2001 but unavailable for almost two years, Glossa has designed gorgeous new packaging for this most important of Paolo Pandolfo’s projects, possibly a milestone in the recording history of Bach’s music. Everybody seems to know these discs – despite almost no marketing effort, they are perceived with such benchmarks as Glenn Gould’s or Gustav Leonhardt’s renderings of the Goldberg Variations or Anner Bylsma’s performances of the original cello suites.

The fact that these suites sound so well on the viola da gamba is of course to a great extent due to Pandolfo’s magic touch. The rich sonority of the viola da gamba truly seems to enrich these pieces and Pandolfo’s remarkable transcription gives weight to his theory that Bach originally composed them with this instrument in mind. (GLOSSA)