The Lady and the Sultan - the story of the viol and the violoncello
In the 18th century the viol and the cello were in close competition with each other. Hubert Le Blanc, gentleman, Doctor of Law and an admirer of the viola da gamba wrote a pamphlet in 1740 to defend the instrument against the ‘enterprises of the violin and the pretensions of the violoncello’. He likened the violin to a foreign Sultan intent upon supplanting the refined and genteel Lady Viol. Italian music was the flavour du jour. What better instrument to express the sentiments of this new style than the instruments of the violin family.
Marin Marais (1656 – 1728) – Chaconne
Monsieur de Sainte Colombe le Pere (d. 1701) – Courante & Gigue for solo viol
François Couperin (1668 - 1733) - Second prélude en Ré Mineur, from L’art de toucher le clavecin
Louis Marchand (1669 - 1732) - Chaconne in D minor
Antonio Vivaldi (1678 – 1741) – Sonata in B flat major for cello and continuo RV 47:
Largo – Allegro
Jean Daniel Braun (c. 1728 – c. 1740): Allemanda from ‘Pièces sans basse’
Jacques Duphly (1715 - 1789) - La Forqueray
François Couperin - Diziéme Concert, from Les Goûts-réünis:
Gravement et mesuré - Air Tendre et Louré - Plainte - La Tromba
Jean Philippe Rameau (1683 – 1764) - Les Sauvages
Ibrahim Aziz performs on viola da gamba and baroque cello with various period instrument ensembles such as Chelys, The Rose Consort of Viols, Follia and Linnet baroque.
He is much in demand as a chamber musician and continuo player and occasionally features also as soloist: recent highlights include working with the RTE Symphony Orchestra in Dublin in J S Bach’s St Matthew’s Passion and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra in Kuala Lumpur playing 18th century concertos for viola da gamba. Ibrahim was trained at Trinity College of Music London under Alison Crum and Susan Sheppard and was the recipient of numerous awards and prizes. He has recorded over 20 CDs with various chamber groups and has 2 solo albums on First Hand Records. www.ibiaziz.com
Dan Tidhar (Harpsichord) was first introduced to the harpsichord at the Jerusalem Early Music Workshop. He completed a Masters in harpsichord performance at the UdK-Berlin, studying with Mitzi Meyerson in Berlin and Ketil Haugsand in Cologne, in parallel with a PhD in digital musicology at TU-Berlin. Recent performances include Southwell Music Festival and the Well-Tempered Clavier Marathon in Jerusalem. Dan is the Cambridge Music Faculty’s advisor for historic keyboard instruments, and a member of Wolfson College.
