CD/vinyl record presentation “A Pritty Thing”

NB Limited seating, so please fill out this Google form and register your free entry now!

A Pritty Thing

For any gamba lover, Tobias Hume’s music constitutes a special treat. Looked upon with a certain condescendence by his learned contemporaries like the renowned John Dowland, Hume’s music sounds remarkably fresh and new to today’s listeners.

Very little is known about the life of Hume, and almost all of it stems from the forewords of his two major works: The First Part of Ayres (1605, all the works on this recording are from this publication) and Captain Humes Poeticall Musicke (1607).  Even his birthyear has to be deduced from the age that was required to enter a certain poor house in London, where Hume was admitted in 1629 and later died on Wednesday, April 16, 1645. The fact that one needed to be at least 50 years of age to be admitted then puts his birthyear at 1579. We do know that he made his living as a mercenary soldier with the rank of army captain, music being “his only effeminate side”.

To the gamba player Hume’s music offers a rare sense of liberty. On the one hand almost nothing is known about his person, but on the other hand every one of his pieces is baptized with a little descriptive title pointing to its origin. This combination -at least to me personally- leads to a wonderful sort of openness, where a few words from an otherwise unknown person are the only things to go on – apart from the music score or tablature itself, obviously. In any case, it was Hume’s music that lured me into the realm of the viola da gamba as a solo instrument some 20 years ago. It has been a regular part of my solo performances ever since.

This recording was made in the chapel of the Franciscan Convent in Utrecht, where a spent so many hours meditating, praying, and playing. The recording was carried out in a fully analog fashion. The only way to really do justice to the analog process is the vinyl record. For convenience, however, we used a parallel digital channel in order to make it available on cd as well.

The analog recording technique does require that the recordings be made in one take. So this recording has absolutely no editing whatsoever. Everything you hear is exactly the way it sounded in the chapel. I don’t think Captaine Hume would have wanted it any other way. For me as a player, this involved a unparalleled concentration that felt very much like the thrill of a live concert.

Presentation concert in Utrecht’s beautiful “Kunstruimte KuuB” Limited seating, so please fill out the Google form and make sure you have one!