Marin Marais and Antoine Forqueray represent the two leading figures from the world of the French viola da gamba with - in the opinion of Hubert Le Blanc - the former playing like an angel and the latter like a devil. And fiendishly difficult to play are many of the pieces brought together in the volume prepared by Jean-Baptiste Forqueray ("le fils") in 1747, two years after the death of his father, and drawn from sketches and memories. Glossa is now bringing back into circulation the legendary recording which introduced Paolo Pandolfo to the label, where he was joined by a starry group of fellow performers in Guido Balestracci, Rolf Lislevand, Eduardo Egüez and Guido Morini.