tue 03/12/2024

Goldberg Variations, Fretwork, St George's Bristol | reviews, news & interviews

Goldberg Variations, Fretwork, St George's Bristol

Goldberg Variations, Fretwork, St George's Bristol

Bach on viols brings out the polyphony and promotes insomnia

Fretwork: A smooth tapestry without joins
There are few more beautiful sounds on this planet than a consort of viols well played. Like a quiet conversation overheard from across the room, it combines intimacy and secrecy, together with a kind of conspiratorial subtlety of feeling – intellect and passion fused but disguised. And the sound has a delicacy and refinement hardly matched in any music I know.
There are few more beautiful sounds on this planet than a consort of viols well played. Like a quiet conversation overheard from across the room, it combines intimacy and secrecy, together with a kind of conspiratorial subtlety of feeling – intellect and passion fused but disguised. And the sound has a delicacy and refinement hardly matched in any music I know.
At high speed in an elaborate texture, it can be like walking a tightrope on stilts

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When this article's link is pasted on Facebook, the blurb that results says: "Bach on viols brings out the polyphony and promotes insomnia, says Stephen Walsh" But the reviewer actually concludes: "Fretwork, though, are virtuosos and never put one to sleep..." Did your editor actually read the review?

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