Garth Knox, Agnès Vesterman - D'Amore (2008)

Celebrated as one of the most outstanding contemporary violists through his association with the Ensemble InterContemporain and the Arditti Quartet Music and his work as a soloist, Garth Knox turns his attention to the viola d’amore for the first ECM disc issued under his name. In Knox’s hands this almost-forgotten baroque instrument takes on a new life as he applies it to music from 1600 to the present day. Repertoire includes music by Tobias Hume and Marin Marais from the 17th century, by Attilio Ariosti from the 18th century, by Klaus Huber and Roland Moser from the 20th, and by Knox himself from the 21st. Garth also offers arrangements of folk music from Celtic sources that connects to his own Irish/Scottish heritage. A wonderful programme superbly played by Knox and French cellist Agnès Vesterman.