Dietmar Berger: The Manchester and Berlin Gamba Books

The gamba or viola de gamba is one of a family of bowed, fretted and stringed instruments that emerged originally in 15th century Spain and was popular during the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Having the appearance of a cello, the viola de gamba typically has six strings and have c-rather than f-sound holes. They are toned like the violin family corresponding this the violin, viola, cello, and double bass.

Gambist Dietmar Berger addresses two books of gamba music, one where the composers are known a (The Manchester Gamba Book) and one where they are not (The Berlin Gamba Book). Together, these recordings provide a cross-section of the Baroque not typically addressed today

Dietmar Berger
The Manchester Gamba Book (c. 1660)
Naxos
2011

The Manchester Gamba Book (c. 1660) is the largets available manuscript of solo gamba music. It contains some 258 pieces played in 22 different tunings. Of the 38 contributors, half are unknown. The songs included in the collection are gamba transcriptions of popular seventeenth-century English popular song. They are melodic and tuneful, often fun pieces of music with a sense of humor and irony. Of note in the gamba pieces collected here by German gambist Dietmar Berger is Gervaise Gerrard's Paven III-15. It is a complex piece slightly out of step with its surrounding pieces in the manuscript. It represents the most highly ornamented of the Lyra Viol style of the period.

The closest comparison to music the wider population would be familiar with is Johann Sebastian Bach's cello suites with the added breadth of two additional stings on which to play. Berger's tone changes from piece to piece lending a certain chiaroscuro character to the performances.

Dietmar Berger
The Berlin Gamba Book—Chorale Variations
Naxos
2015

In contrast to the The Manchester Gamba Book (c. 1660), the The Berlin Gamba Book—Chorale Variations is a collection of gamba pieces arranged by a single individual, initials "J.R." A subset of the 270 pieces collected are settings of sacred chorale pieces. This present recording is a world premiere of these compositions. In that alone, this recording is quite special and it offers a superb contrast to the music in the Manchester manuscript.

Berger performs these pieces with obvious reverence and love, reflected from the intentions of the arranger, who is thought to have been a Prussian amateur, who had collected the pieces over a long period, then assembling them into a personal players' book. Berger retains the hymn-like element to this music, presenting it in a more polished light, revealing the harmonic skeleton without losing any of the emotional power. A grand achievement.