This is yet another brilliant reissue by Virgin in their "Veritas x2" series. Here we get two discs from 1999 and 2000 respectively of wonderful bass viol (viola da gamba) music played by three masters of the instrument (and the excellent Pierre Hantai on harpsichord).
The first disc contains Marais' Suites for Two and Three Bass Viols and a suite by Forqueray for three viols. The second is for two viols and from a wider variety of composers - Locke, Couperin and Sainte-Colombe among them. It's a fantastic programme, giving a flavour of all styles of gamba compositions of the period, and the playing is simply terrific, from the agreeable Simpson in early 17th Century England, via the more sombre, involving Sainte-Colombe, to the dazzling 18th Century German, Scaffrath. All of it is magnificently performed, and it's a hugely satisfying experience.
You would have to be made of stone not to be utterly beguiled by these discs in my view. My one gripe (as with all this series) is that the notes supplied are very sketchy, but at budget price for such wonderful discs it's just a minor niggle. Recommended very highly indeed.