Martin Marais : Gamba Suites

• An exciting new CD with four extended gamba suites by Marin Marais who is undoubtedly the most important representative of the French viola da gmba school at the time ofKing Louis XIV.

• Marais' gamba suites are usually played with harpsichord accompaniment, but Marais himself told us in the foreword to the edition of his works, that the figured bass can be played either on a harpsichord or on a theorbo (bass lute), the latter giving "a pleasing accompaniment".

• Susanne Braumann and Fred Jacobs have now formed a duo for a great many years and for this recording they have selected those pieces that are most suitable for their combination of instruments.

• In the booklet an introduction to the composer and these magnificient suites, the latter being performed on this CD in a superlative way and in Globe's well-known equally superlative sound.

 

When still at school, Susanne Braumann started her viol studies with Wolfgang Eggers at the Folkwang-hochschule in Essen. She continued them at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Hannelore Muller, and at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague with Wieland Kuyken. In 1984 and in 1998 she obtained the soloist diplomas at these two institutions respectively. She has given concerts in Europe, Cuba and the United States, and she took part in numerous radio, television and CD recordings. When not playing as a soloist with harpsichord or theorbo continuo, she is a member of the Locke Consort, the Combattimento Consort Amsterdam and The Royal Con- sort.

Fred Jacobs studied lute and theorbo with Anthony Bailes at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam. He is a member of several Baroque ensembles: the Locke Consort,The Gabrieli Consort and Players, the Parley of lnstruments and the Baroque Orchestra of the Netherlands Bach Society, to mention some of them. He has played all over Europe and in the United States, with conductors such as Gustav Leonhardt, Jos van Immerseel, René Jacobs and Marc Minkowski, and has taken part in many radio, television and CD productions.