Viols - screechy?

[nicedoc441]

Does the sound of VIOLS do your head in? - they do mine in!!!! :-(

[johnniebaby]

What's a VIOL?

[bmtell]

Don't listen to them then. Unless you want your head done in that is.

[johnniebaby]

Don't listen to them then. Unless you want your head done in that is.

[AmDismal]

Vile sound

[bmtell]

Thank you. It seemed like common sense to me.

Fucks knows what a viol is though.

[AmDismal]

Click here

[johnniebaby]

Click here

No

[rockabillybass]

Before anyone has a laugh at the OP's expense perhaps we ought to ask him if he means these..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viol



edit: Adam beat me to it

[nicedoc441]

I listen to a lot of Radio 3 and have heard Viols enough times - i think they are instruments like violins or violas (come to think of it - more like violas from the name).They are played with a bow.

anyway,with a system like mine they shouldn't screech but they ALWAYS do!!!!!! :-(

PS You classical music audiophiles should be tuning into Radio 3 more often methinks! :-)

[meninblack]

It's the same as a viola de gamba - which literally means a large violin made from prawns.

[bmtell]

I listen to a lot of Radio 3 and have heard Viols enough times - i think they are instruments like violins or violas (come to think of it - more like violas from the name).They are played with a bow.

anyway,with a system like mine they shouldn't screech but they ALWAYS do!!!!!! :-(

PS You classical music audiophiles should be tuning into Radio 3 more often methinks! :-)

I'll give that a miss if that's okay with everybody.

[peteAllen]

Viol music is wonderful!

If they sound screechy, this is either a poor quality / low res recording or your system is not that smooth. Well played and given time and space (with a glass of red and low lighting), they pamper my ears for hours

My favourite vile albums... (Tip: if you are totally new to viols then listen to number 2)

1. Marais
http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/w/89674
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Marais-Suitt.../dp/B000GLKRVU (has samples)


2. Purcell Fantasias
http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Alia%2BVox/AVSA9859 (also with samples)



3. http://www.amazon.com/Tous-matins-mo.../dp/B000005WDQ

4. http://www.linnrecords.com/recording...ort-music.aspx

5. http://www.linnrecords.com/recording...six-viols.aspx

[chris217]

Does the sound of VIOLS do your head in? - they do mine in!!!! :-(

Do you count the double bass - probably a member of the viol family - as "screechy"?

[themadlatvian]

Viols - which are related ancestrally to the more modern violin family of instruments - tend to be played with less vibrato, so the sound they make is less warm than violins and the like. The music that they play is also mostly from the Baroque (even Renaissance period) so it does not have the classical/romantic content of more recent string music.

This does make them more difficult to listen to for the person who is hearing them afresh - i.e. they are something of an acquired taste.

Well worth persevering, however.

[rockabillybass]

Do you count the double bass - probably a member of the viol family - as "screechy"?

It is when I use the bow...

[SSM]

I stopped listening to Baroque over a year ago and never hankered for it again. This thread made me realize that maybe it's the viols that make Baroque so unpalatable to my ears.

SS

[ncdrawl]

alia vox.


yes. best.classical label in existence now.

im a cock.

[khfm865]

Actually many of the instruments from the era are slightly "thinner" sounding. If you listen to orchestral music played with original instruments, you will notice overall the orchestra sounding less full, velvety or romantic.

I am a trombonist and the ancestral lineage of my Conn 88H comes from the infamous sackbut - sounds massively different from a present trombone. Much thinner and harsher even in the most capable (not mine) hands

[nicedoc441]

Yes,the instruments sound 'thinner' - NOT screechy :-)