Violinist Bjarte Eike and Barokksolistene perform Biber

The fourth in a series of music videos from Bjarte Eike and Barokksolistene, Mysterier is devoted to exploring the mysteries of the Rosary, through the music of Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644-1704).

Biber wrote 15 short Mystery Sonatas and one final passagcalia for solo violin and continuo, with each sonata related to Christian Rosary devotion practice. No.10 is titled ’The Crucifixion’ and performed in scordatura tuning of G-D-A-D.

Biber’s music is close to Eike’s heart, having performed his music at his graduation concert in 1996 as Norway’s first baroque violin graduate. Eike revisited the music during the pandemic, producing a series of videos.

’The texts we use have been translated and adapted from old psalter-books by Aslak Moe, then re-written and adjusted for this specific project by Bjarte Eike and Ross Kolby, who is also the narrator.

’In this video, we filmed in a fantastic location, the Brønshøj water tower in Copenhagen. The stunning, abandoned tower had such an incredible acoustic, so Bjarte decided to compose and record a prologue and epilogue surrounding the wonderful music by Biber.’

A playlist of other Mystery Sonatas can be found here.

Artistic director/Violin: Bjarte Eike

Narrator: Ross Kolby

Cello: Judith-Maria Blomsterberg

Theorbo: Fredrik Bock

Harpsichord/Keyboard: Hans Knut Sveen

Filmed and Recorded in The Village Recording, and Brønshøj Vandtårn, Copenhagen, 2021/2022

Film: Jonas Lyngdam

Sound: Thomas Vang

Supported by Norsk Kulturråd (særlige Korona-midler)