Even in the 17th century critics called it a “forced art”, and indeed, even for many professionals today it is not easy to understand scordatura as an intuitive way of playing the violin.

But when composers master the art of retuned strings to perfection, completely new sound experiences are possible. Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber was without question one of the greatest in this field, and so his seven sonatas recorded here actually offer “artful vocal harmonies”, as the Latin title promises.

In each sonata, Biber prescribes different, sometimes considerably deviating from the usual tunings - the result is sometimes considerably more, sometimes considerably less tension on the strings, which leads to a completely new tonal differentiation of the apparently so familiar string instruments.

The ensemble Der musikalische Garten presents this challenge in both a technically and musically perfect way.