Nadine Balbeisi, Cantar Alla Viola - Jacob Kremberg: Musicalische Gemüths-Ergötzung, oder Arien, Dresden, 1689 (2025) 
FLAC (tracks), Lossless  | 3:38:41  | 1.05 Gb
Genre: Classical 
With the inspiring title of “Musical Soul’s Delight”, the discovery of this impressive book of 40 Arias by Jacob Kremberg, published in Dresden 1689 by publisher Mathesius, felt much like stumbling on a treasure trove. The book’s title indicates the accompaniments “which are thus arranged so that they can be sung with one voice alone, next to the general bass, or at the same time and especially on the lute, angelique, viola di gamba, and guitar.” The viola da gamba part, written in tablature, has proven to be a unique and invaluable musical example of the cantare alla viola practice in Germany. These rich accompaniments double the voice’s melody over a supportive bass fundament while including the full harmony in between, sometimes with passages of double stops carrying two voices in parallel motion. Solo instrumental versions of the arias are therefore reasonable as a performance possibility since they are able to sing on their own. Considering it has never been recorded in its entirety, we decided a few years ago to commit to the arduous task of recording the complete book of arias choosing the version for the cantar alla viola duo with voice and viola da gamba, as well as the instrumental solo version of the viola da gamba.