Basso barocco

Have you ever heard the combination of the five-string Baroque cello and the bassetto before? Well hardly! While there is a handful of musicians who play the instrument envisaged by J. S. Bach for his 6th cello suite, Silvio Dalla Torre is at present still the only bassettist.

The idea of making music with these two instruments, and in addition also with the four-string cello and the normal double bass, came about quite spontaneously. Putting it into practice, Gert von Bülow and Silvio
Dalla Torre had so much delight in the extraordinary richness of tone of the two basses that they decided from then on to perform predominantly Baroque and early classical works as a duo. Composers such as Boismortier, Corrette, Telemann and Scarlatti wrote numerous pieces for bass duo. In the combination of violoncello and bassetto, which although they play in a similar register nevertheless sound very individual, these charming compositions appear in a completely new light.

In their concerts, the two musicians explain in an entertaining style the musical and cultural backgrounds of the programmes.