Rariora et Marginalia

The Rare Fruits Council under Manfredo Kraemer perform baroque violin sonatas on Astrée.

Rustic, dark, rich, like a caramel sauce, or an exotic, wild mushroom soup. This recording combines sonatas by Bertali, Böddecker, Muffat, Westhoff, and Bovicelli. While some works are simply better than others (my favorites the Muffat and the Bertali Chiacona), they each have their own unique sound world on to themselves, indeed, rare pieces that have been typically pushed out to the “margins.”

The recorded sound is good. As ever, I admire the sound of Kraemer’s Techler violin, and there are some really sonically-low notes in this recording. Get to the end of track 1, and brace yourself. It will wake up the neighbors, for sure.

It should go without saying that each gem the Rare Fruits Council puts out on record should be eaten-up like guilt-free candy. Warmly recommended to fans of the baroque violin.