Customer Reviews

Rebel - Violin Sonatas / Manze, Linden, Egarr

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Andrew Manze is a wonderful violinist, and his costars-- Richard Egarr and Jaap ter Linden-- are also excellent performers. I have no complaint whatsoever as to the performance of the eight violin sonatas on this disk. If one is seeking a good recording of these works, look no further. However, if one is looking for an interesting album of early music for pure listening enjoyment, please take caution. Jean-Féry Rebel's sonatas suffer from sameness and, in end, listening to the disk one feels that one have heard it all after the third sonata. Please understand, the music is lovely, so I would not go so far as to say that the album failed, but it is disappointing if one is looking for a more varied introduction to the music of Rebel or the time period in general. I was disappointed that even with near-perfect performances, nothing really stood out on the CD.

Fantastic music - pure baroque. These sonatas are varied, highly expressive, and beautifully played. I'm not familiar with Rebel's other works, but I plan to check them out after listening to these. Highly recommended.