In this new recital recording Dutch viola da gambist Ralph Meulenbroeks deserves at least as much praise as for his earlier effort, Moved by Marais (type Q10263 in Search Reviews), devoted to his apparent hero Marin Marais. In Gambomania he offers outstanding interpretations of other masters of the instrument. His performances of A Question and An Answer, two of four selections by the English eccentric Captain Tobias Hume, while quicker and more evenly keeled than Savall's reference interpretations (Alia Vox), are also just as witty, clever, and probing. Meulenbroeks' rendering of the Fifth sonata from Johannes Schenck's L' Echo du Danube also is expertly done, with the composer's often highly disparate stylistic palette carefully considered and played up for maximum impact.

As a specialist in French repertoire, Meulenbroeks also includes two selections by his beloved Marais. From the composer's Le Quatrieme Livre de Pieces de Viole we hear a wonderfully deliberate, brusque performance of the Arabesque, and by way of contrast a La Reveuse that must be counted among the slowest, most soulful renderings ever recorded. Meulenbroeks' uncanny evocation of hunting horns during the performance of his arrangement of Louis de Caix d'Hervelois' Cors de Chasse fascinates as well.

STS Digital's SACD sound is audiophile quality. With a populist title like Gambomania and a cover photograph picturing a shirtless soloist clad in worn jeans and cowboy boots in a pose resembling a rock star, some may dismiss Meulenbroeks as less than serious. They would be sorely mistaken. Meulenbroeks is as interpretively insightful and technically adept as any gambist performing today, a fact amply demonstrated in this excellent recital.

--John Greene