One of the great pioneers in post-war performance of early music in the Low Countries, Wieland Kuijken is, like his brother Sigiswald, known as a revivalist of the viola da gamba. During his years of training in Bruges, then Brussels, Wieland pursued an eclectic repertoire, including performing with contemporary music group Musiques Nouvelles. He was, at the same time, teaching himself to play the viola da gamba and spent over a decade playing with the Alarius Ensemble, which specialised in French Baroque music. Much of his performing has been with his brothers Sigiswald and Barthold, to great critical acclaim; he has participated in numerous early music festivals and has taught widely, including at the conservatories of Antwerp, The Hague and Brussels.

On record, Wieland Kuijken’s viola da gamba playing is instantly recognisable and he must take a considerable amount of credit for developing the aesthetic we associate with period instrument performance of early repertory. Of course it is hard to know the extent to which the performance decisions (based on scant paper evidence) of the Kuijkens and their associates bear much relationship with early performing practices, but this is not a criticism. Like his Spanish counterpart Jordi Savall, Wieland demonstrates complete ease with the instrument: in his hands—and with some judicious use of selective, accentual vibrato—its wide tonal range is apparent, including the reedy sound we perhaps associate with it most of all.

A selection of Kuijken’s recordings here includes Telemann’s solo Sonata in D (1993), which in the second movement (Vivace) evidences some impressive virtuoso playing. John Jenkins’s Fantasia in G minor (1980), Marais’s Suite in D (2005) and Boismortier’s Sonata in G minor (1999) all display a clean sound, carefully nuanced phrasing (stressing dissonance and undulating the tone with careful regard to the musical conversation) and the kinds of astringent timbres we tend to associate with early music. Haydn’s Baryton Trio No. 110 in a flute trio arrangement (1986) testifies to the Kuijken family’s fine ensemble-playing, with intelligent phrase shaping and an effervescent Presto finale, although some of the spiky articulations in the first movement might suggest a limited perspective on this later eighteenth-century style. Nonetheless, Wieland is a player of persuasive confidence and considerable agility in whatever repertoire he tackles.

© Naxos Rights International Ltd. — David Milsom (A–Z of String Players, Naxos 8.558081-84)