Stein & Stainer

Lorenz Duftschmid, Viola da gamba and Viola di bordone
Christoph Hammer, Hammerflügel
Lorenz Duftschmid plays an original instrument by Jacobus Stainer from 1673.
In combination with the original fortepiano by Johann Andreas Stein from 1785, the artists present a fascinating sound combination that is rarely heard. Lorenz Duftschmid also introduces “one of the most graceful instruments,” as Leopold Mozart called it: the baryton, a string instrument with resonance sides from the 18th century, for which Joseph Haydn, among others, wrote his famous baryton trios.
Works by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Leopold Hofmann, Carl Friedrich Abel, Andreas Lidl, Franz Xaver Hammer and Joseph Haydn.

B-A-C-H

Johann Sebastian Bach: Three sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord obbligato BWV 1027-1029

Lorenz Duftschmid Vola da gamba (Jakob Stainer, Absam 1676)
Paul Gulda Harpsichord
Karl Markovics recitation

Sounds and Words
One of the most important keyboard virtuosos of our time meets the historical sound expert. Per Aspera ad Astra - BACH's integrating genius unites apparent opposites in the sense of Seneca to an unseen high-altitude flight. Because here, in a fascinatingly reduced ambience, not only magic keyboard meet baroque viol, but also Bach's music meets baroque poetry, read by actor Karl Markovics, who - in his turn - is on the trail of the language of the Bach era.

Arpeggione

The preference for special instruments with six or more strings continued in Austria well into the 19th century. In the Biedermeier period, the Viennese instrument maker Staufer invented the 'arpeggione', also known as the 'bow guitar' or 'guitar violoncell'. Contemporaries enthused about its qualities 'similar in beauty, richness and loveliness of the tone in the height of the oboe, in the depth to the basset horn'. If Franz Schubert hadn't written his famous A minor sonata for Vincenz Schuster and his instrument in November 1824, the “arpeggione” itself would probably have disappeared as a term today. But it has become immortal through Schubert's so-called 'Arpeggione Sonata'.
When the sonata finally appeared in print almost half a century after its creation, in 1871, the instrument had long since disappeared. It was published as a sonata for violin and piano, with an alternative string part for cello. As an arrangement for cello one can usually hear Schubert's beautiful work in A minor today, sometimes also with viola or double bass. But it sounds best on the instrument for which it was written, in conjunction with a fortepiano.

Lorenz Duftschmid Arpeggione (copy after Mitteis / Staufer in the Museum zu Berlin)
Paul Gulda fortepiano (Conrad Graf, Vienna approx. 1824)

In Finstan möcht’ i sein

'In darkness let me dwell' and many other of the most beautiful songs by John Dowland, presented in the Renaissance dress of five viols and also transferred to today's Viennese
Komm zu mia (Come again) / Es tuad ma lad (Can she excuse) / Schatzal kumm (Come away, come sweet love) / In Finstan möcht’ i sein (In darkness let me dwell) / Tiafa Schlaf (Come heavy sleep) and others

Armonico Tributo Consort
Agnes Palmisano Quartett