Arpeggione | Recordings
Staufer arpeggione, invented in 1823, immediately inspired Franz Schubert. Composed in 1824, his a-minor sonata for arpeggione and pianoforte D821 is believed to be the first music work for this instrument. A concerto for arpeggione and orchestra has been written by H. A. Birnbach in the same very first years of the instrument life but is considered lost. These are the only two known original pieces for arpeggione.
The Schubert "Arpeggione Sonata", which perpetuated the name of the arpeggione instrument, has been arranged in diverse settings (for violin, viola, cello, flute, double bass or guitar and piano). The most frequent versions found in concert and recording are the arrangements for cello and piano or viola and piano.
The recordings of the original piece are rare because very few people can play this arpeggione instrument. Only a dozen instruments exist in the world (half a them are historical instruments in museum's collections and the other are modern copies from them or new arpeggiones). In order to play arpeggione, the performer must master both the guitar fingerboard and the bow technique, which is not frequent, and have an instrument available for a long period of time. Moreover, the huge task of learning to play arpeggione in order to play only one sonata seems perhaps disproportionated for most people.
It is thus not surprising that very few recordings are available. There has been a first recording (long playing) on arpeggione in 1974 released by Archiv Produktion (see below) which is not available on CD. The following recordings, on CD, only happen in the 21st Century.
Ars Produktion proposed a CD in 2001 with Alfred Lessing and Jozef de Beenhouwer; Cavalli Records released the second CD in 2005 with Gerhart Darmstadt and Egino Klepper; finally, Fuga Libera proposes a third arpeggione version with Nicolas Deletaille and Paul Badura-Skoda. The two first CDs insist on the arpeggione instrument, the Fuga Libera CD is rather a Schubert CD, coupling the arpeggione sonata with the Schubert Quintet with 2 cellos in C Major. Only one generation after the first recording of the Schubert sonata on arpeggione (museum instrument!), the real Schubert version is slowly making its way into the musical world. Most of today music lovers do not know yet that their "favorite recording" is in fact a transcription.
This is the detail about these arpeggione recordings:
1974: Archive Productions No. 2533 175 (Long playing)
Klaus Storck (arpeggione) / Alfons Kontarsky (pianoforte)
On the same disc:
Variations for flute and piano on "Trockene Blumen" from "Die Schöne Müllerin"
(Hans-Martin Linde - flute)
2001: Ars Produktion (recorded on July 13 and 14, 2000)
Alfred Lessing (arpeggione) / Jozef de Beenhouwer (pianoforte)
On the same CD (arpeggione and guitar):
Vincenz Schuster: Drei Stücke (1825)
Anton Diabelli: Andante con moto A-Dur
Friedrich Burgmüller: Drei Nocturnes
(Harald Mohs, guitar)
2005: Cavalli Records (CCD 242)
Gerhart Darmstadt (arpeggione) / Egino Klepper (pianoforte)
On the same CD:
Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonatine (Adagio) c-Moll WoO 43a; Air russe, Variationen über ein russisches Volkslied, a-Moll op. 107/7
Franz Schubert: Lied der Mignon a-Moll D 877/4
Louis Spohr: Tempo di Polacca A-Dur aus seiner Oper “Faust”
Bernhard Romberg: Adagio E-Dur
Ukrainisch/deutsch Moderato a-Moll (Schöne Minka)
Fréderic Burgmüller: Nocturne (Andantino) a-Moll/A-Dur
(Björn Colell · romantic Guitar)
2007: Fuga Libera (FUG529) (recorded in Firenze - January 2006)
Nicolas Deletaille (arpeggione) / Paul Badura Skoda (pianoforte)
On the same CD: (recorded in Paris - June 2007)
Schubert Quintet in C Major (Quatuor Rosamonde + Nicolas Deletaille, cello)
Other recordings:
The "Médiathèque de la Cité de la Musique" annonces on its Internet Web Site a document soon available online: the Schubert sonata played in concert (March 2, 2004) on arpeggione and pianoforte by Christophe Coin and Patrick Cohen: Lien vers ce document