Hopkinson Smith plays Weiss on a 1755 Widhalm Swan-neck Baroque Lute
00:00 introduction
Suite d-moll
0:09 Prélude
1:29 Allemande
4:51 Courante
6:33 Menuets I und II
9:02 Bourrée
10:48 Sarabande
13:06 Gigue
14:55 Tombeau sur la Mort de M. Conte de Logy arrivée 1721
23:40 Prélude und Fantasie c-moll
Suite D-dur
28:15 Prélude
29:59 Aria
35:04 Courante
38:20 Sarabande
42:48 Passagaille
46:52 Gigue
The Widhalm lute is similar to an aged aristocratic general, the hero of battles long since fought, still with an elegant and proud bearing, but also, no longer the tactician he once was. The strengths of the instrument - apart from the amazing phenomenon that it has survived in playing condition without restoration - lie in its wonderfully rich bass register and in the clear singing quality of the upper strings (the first five courses were strung in gut for this recording). Its strong qualities include a middle register with less power than it probably had originally, and also