Biber: Mystery Sonatas

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber's Rosary Sonatas (or Mystery Sonatas) c. 1678 are unlike anything else in the violin literature, with scordatura, or unconventional instrument tuning, exhaustively explored in the fifteen-piece cycle, each sonata utilizing a different tuning. Each sonata represents one of the Catholic Rosary Mysteries. As the music reaches its spiritual climax in the "Resurrection" sonata, Biber specifies the violin be played with its two central strings crossed. Accompanying Lina Tur Bonet, an exciting younger generation violinist, is her ensemble Musica Alchemica.