Hopkinson Smith has been called the most moving of present day lutenists...he approaches the lute's universe with a musicality which goes far beyond the seemingly limited voice of his instrument. We invite you to explore on this website the magic of his lute and its music.
Sylvius Leopold Weiss probably did not worry much about posterity; few 18th-century musicians did. And posterity duly ignored Weiss, partly because there was nothing suitable on which to play his music. It was tailored for the Baroque lute, a sonorous but difficult instrument that largely disappeared within a generation of his death.
Read MoreOn attendait avec impatience cette intégrale des Sonates et Partitas par Hopkinson Smith. Transcription complète de l'œuvre pour violon seul, elle marque L'aboutissement d'une profonde familiarité avec l'oeuvre de Bach dont Hopkinson Smith gravait il y a vingt ans l'intégrale des pièces pour le luth. Elle marque aussi l'apogée d'un art sans équivalent.
Read MoreHopkinson Smith plays the lute like it never went out of style. His virtuosity goes beyond physical facility to realize a rare metaphysical poetry, and in the process he brings these age-old inventions to life. Anyone thinking the preceding claim verges on the hyperbolic should audition Smith's latest issue, an Astrée album of Partitas by the great Baroque lutenist/composer Sylvius Leopold Weiss (1686-1750).
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