Paolo Pandolfo
Intimate, woody resonance from the viola da gamba. Historically informed performance that feels alive, improvisational, and deeply personal. Best for quiet reflection.
Intimate, woody resonance from the viola da gamba. Historically informed performance that feels alive, improvisational, and deeply personal. Best for quiet reflection.
The music of Paolo Pandolfo feels like a private conversation held in a room with perfect acoustics. It is defined by the unique, slightly grainy, and deeply resonant voice of the viola da gamba, an instrument that sits somewhere between a cello and a guitar but possesses a haunting, human-like vulnerability. The sound is tactile; you can almost feel the friction of the bow against the gut strings and the vibration of the hollow wooden body.
What sets Pandolfo apart is his refusal to treat early music as a museum piece. Drawing on his background in jazz and popular music, he brings a sense of spontaneous breath and improvisational freedom to Baroque and Renaissance scores. His interpretations of Bach and Marais are not just technical feats, but emotional explorations that prioritize the 'spirit' of the music over rigid academic adherence, resulting in a sound that feels both ancient and startlingly contemporary.
For those new to his work, 'A Solo' is the essential starting point. It captures the raw, unadorned beauty of the instrument in a way that feels both meditative and intellectually engaging. It is music for the moments when you want to disappear into your own thoughts, guided by a performer who treats every note as a deliberate, soulful choice.
Paolo Pandolfo is an Italian virtuoso player, composer, and teacher of music for the viola da gamba, born on January 31, 1964. He began his studies as a double bass and guitar player, becoming a skilled performer of jazz and popular music. In the mid-late 1970s he studied viola da gamba at the Rome Conservatory. In 1979 he co-founded the early music ensemble La Stravaganza, and then moved to Basel, Switzerland in 1981 where he studied with Jordi Savall at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. From 1982 to 1990 Pandolfo was a member of Jordi Savall's early music groups Hespèrion XX. Since 1989 Pandolfo has served as professor of viola da gamba at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis — a position previously held by maestros August Wenzinger and Jordi Savall. He also directs, records, and performs regularly with his viola da gamba-oriented early music ensemble Labyrinto, which he co-founded. Pandolfo has recorded numerous CDs. For most of the 1980s he recorded primarily with Jordi Savall and others. His first recording as a soloist was in 1990 with the release of his highly acclaimed CD C. P. E. Bach: Sonatas for Viola da Gamba (Tactus). He has also recorded a viola da gamba interpretation of the cello suites of J. S. Bach. Pandolfo explains that the suites, although written for the cello, were conceived in the polyphonic style of the viola da gamba; further, the dance suite was a common form for viola da gamba music, and playing the Bach suites on the gamba is thus a way to reclaim this tradition for the viola da gamba. Pandolfo has said that the patrimony of ancient music can be a powerful inspiration for the future of the Western musical tradition. Building bridges between past and present is therefore an important part of his work.
Cassette uses generative AI to enrich its catalog. How we use AI →
