PENTATONE releases Schubert’s Mandolin EP, featuring Alon Sariel and Anne-Sophie Bertrand, in November 2024.
Bringing Mediterranean Flavour To Schubert
Mandolinist Alon Sariel presents arrangements of Schubert’s Ave Maria, Ständchen, Der Leiermann and an excerpt from his Moments musicaux, together with harpist Anne-Sophie Bertrand. Thanks to a famous painting of Schubert playing the guitar, it is generally assumed that the composer was a seasoned guitarist too. Sariel and Bertrand demonstrate how well his music fits plucked instruments, adding a colourful, Mediterranean tint to his Romantic style.
The standalone ‘Schubert’s Mandolin’ EP precedes the album ‘Vienna Mandolin Stories’ which will be released in Spring 2025 and features works by Haydn, Mozart, Paisiello and Krähmer.
“I always had a special affinity to the city of Vienna and its musical heritage. Some of the most famous pieces for the mandolin came from members of the 1st Viennese School, musical moments like Mozart’s Canzonetta from Don Giovanni or Beethoven’s sonatinas for mandolin and piano. Being drawn to this unique Viennese aesthetic of the turn of the 18th century, I’ve decided to approach music of a larger scale, written by some of the pillars of classical music, and see what the mandolin has to offer there. I looked at different concertos by Haydn and Mozart and finally made my own pasticcio concerto for mandolin and orchestra, which stands in the center of my next album ‘Vienna Mandolin Stories’.
As an appetizer, I present here a few selected works by Franz Schubert. In a counter-intuitive move, I decided not to go for the pianoforte or the guitar, which were often used as companions to the mandolin, but rather to partner the mandolin with the harp, which was a popular instrument both in salons and concert halls in Vienna of the 19th century. The blend of these two plucked instruments is fresh and crispy to my ears and I find that it serves itself marvelously to these very colorful tunes by Schubert.”
Alon Sariel
Digital Release Date: 1 NOVEMBER 2024
Released in digital formats for streaming and high-resolution downloads.
