Just Biber album review – Podger rises brilliantly to these sonatas' extreme challenges
The pieces are all characterised by their extreme technical difficulty, and especially by their extensive use of scordatura, when individual violin strings are tuned differently from usual. Podger copes with all these challenges quite brilliantly, including imitating the sounds of animals in the Sonata Representivo; she brings an expressive freedom that never takes too many liberties, but remains true to the spirit of the music. If the works themselves are not quite as startling and vivid as the Rosary Sonatas, anyone who enjoyed Podger's previous encounter with Biber will surely relish this one, too.
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