Tuesday, April 7, 2026

Plucked pleasures.

The Harp, the Bow and the Guitar

Tuesday, April 7, 2026

The Harp, the Bow and the Guitar

Good morning! For this playlist we dive into some more unusual instrument combinations. Viola and guitar, violin and harp, flute, viola and harp, combinations that rarely meet in the concert hall, but could reward the curious listener very well.

We open with a selection from the Cine Sessions EP by Luosha Fang (viola) and Jacob Kellermann (guitar), featuring intimate miniatures by Joachim (his Hebräische Melodien op. 9), Liszt (Romance Oubliée) and Fauré (Après un rêve). Fang is the winner of the 2018 Tokyo International Viola Competition and the 2019 Classic Strings International Competition in Vienna; Kellermann is a Swedish Grammy-winning guitarist. Together they make the viola-guitar duo sound like the most natural thing in the world.

We follow up with Louis Spohr, a composer who wrote extensively for his harpist wife Dorette Scheidler Spohr. His Sonata for Violin and Harp No. 1 in C minor is performed here by Helga Storck and Kurt Guntner, from their 2024 album Chamber Music with Harp.

The playlist closes with Debussy's late Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp (L. 137), one of the most luminous chamber works ever written for this combination. Magali Mosnier, Antoine Tamestit and Xavier de Maistre are among the finest players on their respective instruments today.

► Open playlist in Spotify

Joseph Joachim

1831 – 1907

Hebräische Melodien, nach Eindrücken der Byron'schen Gesänge, op. 9 (1854–1855)

Arr. for viola & guitar · Recorded: 2026 · Label: Yellow Tone

Luosha Fang (viola) · Jacob Kellermann (guitar)
From the EP Cine Sessions: Luosha Fang & Jacob Kellermann

"Sostenuto" — I. Sostenuto

Franz Liszt

1811 – 1886

Romance Oubliée, S. 132 (1880)

Arr. for viola & guitar · Recorded: 2026 · Label: Yellow Tone

Luosha Fang (viola) · Jacob Kellermann (guitar)
From the EP Cine Sessions: Luosha Fang & Jacob Kellermann

Romance Oubliée

Gabriel Fauré

1845 – 1924

Après un rêve, op. 7 nr. 1 (1878)

Arr. for viola & guitar · Recorded: 2026 · Label: Yellow Tone

Luosha Fang (viola) · Jacob Kellermann (guitar)
From the EP Cine Sessions: Luosha Fang & Jacob Kellermann

Après un rêve

Louis Spohr

1784 – 1859

Sonata for Violin & Harp No. 1 in C minor, WoO 23 (c. 1805)

Recorded: 2024 · Label: Profil Medien

Helga Storck (violin) · Kurt Guntner (harp)
From the album Spohr: Chamber Music with Harp

I. Adagio – Allegro vivace
II. Andante – Allegro

Claude Debussy

1862 – 1918

Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp in F major, L. 137 (1915)

Recorded: 2018 · Label: harmonia mundi

Magali Mosnier (flute) · Antoine Tamestit (viola) · Xavier de Maistre (harp)
From the album Debussy: Les Trois Sonates, The Late Works

I. Pastorale. Lento, dolce rubato
II. Interlude. Tempo di minuetto
III. Finale. Allegro moderato ma risoluto

Wednesday, April 1, 2026

Classical music thrift shop bonanza!

Thursday, April 2, 2026

Ninety Minutes from a thrift shop in Breda

Good morning! In Breda, the Netherlands, there is a second-hand charity shop I love to visit. Huge quantities of clothes, books, household appliances and of course CDs and vinyl records change hands there. Who owned those records? When were they played? Why were they given away? Every time I stand there holding one of those records, I ask myself these questions. Sometimes there is a date written on them, sometimes not. Since my house is already full enough, I often take a photo as a souvenir rather than the record itself. This week's playlist, ninety minutes long, is filled with three of the records I held in my hands and photographed.

The first is on a remarkable label: Everest. Founded at the dawn of the stereo era, Everest acquired 3-channel 35mm magnetic film recording equipment and used it through the early 1960s to capture sound with exceptional fidelity. Sir Malcolm Sargent conducts two works by Ottorino Respighi: The Fountains of Rome and The Pines of Rome — two pieces that lent themselves perfectly to showcasing the spectacular possibilities of recording technology in 1960.

The second record was released in 1967: Tchaikovsky's First Suite, conducted by Antal Doráti. Now largely forgotten, the suite was in Tchaikovsky's own time one of his most frequently performed works. He took it to several European stages himself and it was also the piece he conducted, for example, with the Berlin Philharmonic.

The last record is a rather special little single from Philips' budget "Musikalische Edelsteine" series. What makes it remarkable is that it is an early stereo release, from around 1960, whereas most records in the series were issued in mono. The recording itself comes from conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos and the New York Philharmonic, originally taped in 1957.

▶ Open playlist in Spotify · 90 minutes

Ottorino Respighi

1879 – 1936

The Fountains of Rome (Fontane di Roma), P. 106 (1916)

Label: Everest SDBR-3051 · Recorded: 1959/1960, Walthamstow Assembly Hall, London

London Symphony Orchestra · Sir Malcolm Sargent, conductor

I. The Fountain of the Valle Giulia at Dawn
II. The Triton Fountain
III. The Fountain of Trevi at Mid-day
IV. The Fountain of the Villa Medici at Sunset

The Pines of Rome (Pini di Roma), P. 141 (1924)

Label: Everest SDBR-3051 · Recorded: 1959/1960, Walthamstow Assembly Hall, London

London Symphony Orchestra · Sir Malcolm Sargent, conductor

I. The Pines of the Villa Borghese
II. The Pines Near a Catacomb
III. The Pines of the Janiculum
IV. The Pines of the Appian Way

As found in Breda — Everest SDBR-3051, "First in 35 MM Recording"

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

1840 – 1893

Suite No. 1 in D minor, Op. 43 (1878–1879)

Label: Philips · Recorded: August 1966, London · ℗ 1967

New Philharmonia Orchestra · Antal Doráti, conductor

I. Introduzione e Fuga — Andante sostenuto – Moderato e con anima
II. Divertimento — Allegro moderato
III. Intermezzo — Andantino semplice
IV. Marche miniature — Moderato con moto
V. Scherzo — Allegro con moto
VI. Gavotte — Allegro

As found in Breda — Philips stereo LP, with a sticker from Radio Leo, Rotterdam

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

1840 – 1893

Slavonic March (Marche slave), Op. 31 (1876)

Label: Philips Musikalische Edelsteine / Hi-Fi Stereo 45, cat. no. 740 102 AV · Recorded: 1957, New York · issued c. 1960

New York Philharmonic · Dimitri Mitropoulos, conductor

Slavonic March, Op. 31 (Side 1 & 2)

As found in Breda — Philips 45 Hi-Fi Stereo single, "Musikalische Edelsteine" series, c. 1960