CD 1:
Suite in A major
Sonata in C major
Sonata in D major
Sonata in G major
Aria in E minor
Sonata in B flat major

CD 2:
Sonata in A major
Sonata in C major
Sonata in D major
Imitatione del cuccu
Sonata in B flat major
Aria in E minor

Johann Jakob Walther was one of the most significant violinists in Germany in the generation before J.S. Bach, and Bojan Cicic believes his music should be essential listening for anyone seeking a fuller understanding of Bach’s polyphonic writing for the instrument.

Having built their reputation with a series of Delphian recordings focussing on ‘missing link’ composers, Cicic and his Illyria Consort are passionate about bringing Walther’s collection of Scherzi da violino to the wider audience it deserves.

This first complete recording displays the sheer ambition of Walther’s opus, with highlights including his demonstration of the violin’s polyphonic potential in the D major sonata (No. III); the joyful playfulness of the end of No. IV; the inventiveness of the Imitatione del cuccu; and – Bojan Cicic’s personal favourite – the dramatic melancholy of the final Aria in E minor.

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Recorded on 26-30 July 2021 in St Martin’s Church, East Woodhay, Hampshire. Instrumentarium: Violin by G. Tononi, 1701 Bologna; Archlute by Martin Haycock, 1987 after Tieffenbrucker; Single-manual harpsichord by Colin Booth, 2013 after C. Vater (1738).