Riccardo Minasi

Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber is certainly one of the greatest violin virtuosos of the baroque era and had a great influence on the development of the violin play of his time. He surpassed his contemporaries many times over through his imagination as well as through his outstanding composing skills. The Rosary Sonatas that are newly on ARTS demonstrate this in a very special way.

Technically these sonatas make high demands on the instrumentalists as the musicians must exploit all 14 different shifts in tuning the strings (= Scordatura). The ensemble Bizzarrie Armoniche and the violin player Riccardo Minasi rise to the challenge. They revive and celebrate this famous work of Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, which was only discovered prior to it's first release in the year 1905.