99.00 PLN

CD:

Nr kat.: M078A
Label  : MaRecordings

Weiss (Sylvio Leopold), a great lutenist... His own father, who brought his splendid natural talent so far, first taught him that by his seventh year he had already played before Emperor Leopold I. His compositions stand out above all that are known today. To be sure, some say they are difficult, but only those who are too careless or too old, or otherwise prefer another instrument. But they are very hard to find, since he was very reluctant to let them out of his hands. Therefore whoever has a good collection must regard it as a treasure and cherish it. His touch was very gentle; one could hear it, but did not know where the notes were coming from. In improvising he was incomparable; the piano and forte were completely in his grasp. In short, he was master of his instrument and could do whatever he wanted with it. His surviving works consist of solos, trios, concertos, tombeaux, among which the one for Count Losy is incomparable, and a few Galenterie pieces. When he died, in 1750 the world lost the greatest lutenist that Europe has ever heard and admired. Weiss has left us many pieces, and new discoveries of works continue to reveal even more; in the latest count, there are more than 850 pieces that are extant. For reasons which are unclear, none of his works were printed in his lifetime, with very few exceptions; the works that we have today were found scattered in various manuscripts in Europe and Russia. Most of his works are in the Suite or Partita format, although Weiss himself referred to them as sonatas. They consist of groupings of dance movements, often with a preceding Prelude or Overture, and these sonatas contain various movements typical of the partita format. The largest collections are found in the British Library (London Manuscript, Add. 30387), and Germany (Dresden Manuscript, Sachsisches Landesbibliothek Mus.2841-V-I). (From the liner notes by Ed Martin)