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

Sunday, February 25, 2024

The Vox classical years.

In the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s, Vox classical was a famous budget classical label. The label kickstarted the career of Alfred Brendel and attracted well known artists as Otto Klemperer, Lili Krauss and Riccardo Ricci. This violinist recorded in 1977 with harpist Susanna Mildonian the concertante For harp, violin and orchestra by Louis Spohr.

Mozart, Haydn and Salieri pupil Johann Nepomuk Hummel had more succes with his earlier works that with his later works, still this charming rondo form June 1831 deserves to be better known.

In 1909 Guiomar Novaes was one of the two foreign students that were atmitted to the Paris conservatory. Out of 387 applicants she played for a jury that included Debussy, Fauré, Moszkowski and Widor. At the age of 57 she recorded Beethoven’s 4th piano concerto with

the Vienna symphony orchestra under Otto Klemperer.

The spouses Mary Louise Boehm and Kees Kooper recorded in July 1974 the piano and violin concerto by Johann Peter Pixis. (No, not Pixies, alas ;-)) I could not find much info about when this concerto was composed, but it seems to be a reworking of Pixis 6th piano trio from 1839, dedicated to Clara Wieck.

I hope you will enjoy this playlist!

Louis Spohr (1784-1859)

Tracks 01-03 Concertante For harp, violin and orchestra (1806)

Riccardo Ricci, violin

Susanna Mildonian, harp

Orchestra of radio Luxembourg

Louis De Froment, conductor

Recorded 1977

Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837)

Track 04-05 "La Galante" (Rondeau), For Piano, Op.120 (1831)

Martin Galling, piano

Recorded 1969

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Tracks 06-08 Concerto No. 4 For Piano And Orchestra In G Major, op 58 (1805-1806)

Guiomar Novaes, piano

Vienna symphony orchestra,

Otto Klemperer, conductor

Recorded 1952

Johann Peter Pixis 1788-1874)

Tracks 09-11 Double concerto for violin & piano in F# minor (1839)

Mary Louise Boehm, piano

Kees Kooper, violin

Westphalian Symphony Orchestra

Siegfried Landau, conductor

Recorded 1974

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2GCrxVu4BTS0ZtjBN2GKR3?si=2330fbe2619b400e(HTTP link)