24 Bit 384 Khz

The arpeggione would probably be completely forgotten today had not Franz Schubert written for it his famous Sonata in A minor, D. 821, in 1824. Invented by Johann Georg Staufer in 1823, the arpeggione can be described as a kind of hybrid cello-guitar. It had frets and six strings tuned like those of a guitar, but was held like a cello and played with a bow.

Théotime Langlois de Swarte continues his exploration of the violin repertory of the early eighteenth century. In this programme, he highlights the links between three leading composers for the instrument, whose popularity was burgeoning at the time: Vivaldi, father of the violin concerto, and two of his most brilliant younger contemporaries, Locatelli and Leclair. A disc which, beyond the interplay of echoes and personal connections, showcases the extraordinary versatility of an instrument as virtuosic as it is poetic.

The arpeggione would probably be completely forgotten today had not Franz Schubert written for it his famous Sonata in A minor, D. 821, in 1824. Invented by Johann Georg Staufer in 1823, the arpeggione can be described as a kind of hybrid cello-guitar. It had frets and six strings tuned like those of a guitar, but was held like a cello and played with a bow.

“Schubert’s music is always associated in my imagination with a journey in a horse-drawn carriage. Outside, the scenery is flowing by. Cities, mountains, rivers, lakes, villages. At times the carriage slows down, then it speeds up again, but I always have that feeling of being on a journey. Not on foot and not on horse, but in a carriage on wheels.” (Elena Bashkirova)

chubert was a competent violinist and violist and his four violin sonatas pose no problems for skilled players. It is strange, then, that so few really recommendable recordings of them have been made.

The arpeggione would probably be completely forgotten today had not Franz Schubert written for it his famous Sonata in A minor, D. 821, in 1824. Invented by Johann Georg Staufer in 1823, the arpeggione can be described as a kind of hybrid cello-guitar. It had frets and six strings tuned like those of a guitar, but was held like a cello and played with a bow.

Distilled sparingly over the course of Franz Schubert’s all too brief life, the few works that make up his output for violin and piano fascinate and intrigue, writing the episodes of a story that is undoubtedly fragmentary, yet in reality deeply unified in a mysterious yearning for elsewhere. Situated somewhere between the miniature of the lied and the large symphonic forms, these pieces open countless windows onto Schubert’s contrasted and tormented universe. Nathalia and Maria Milstein’s choice of a splendid Blüthner piano of 1857 plays a crucial role in the quest for unheard-of sound worlds on which this disc invites us.

Sparkling new accounts of Schubert’s violin-and-piano music from two luminaries of the Finnish period-instrument scene.
The Bulgarian violinist Zefira Valova graduated from the National Music Academy of her native Sofia, Bulgaria, before specialising in Baroque violin studies with Lucy van Dael.

For this programme, Duo Diversitas has selected or created sophisticated arrangements that embody virtuosity and musical expression. In focusing on great composers of the 18th and 19th centuries, Marisa Minder and Evgeniya Spalinger are able to explore the artistic refinement, lyrical grace and technical sophistication of the music in this unique formation. The one original work for flute and guitar is Hans Haug’s Capriccio, a modern classic that alludes to Baroque procedure but within the context of exciting contemporary harmonies.