Hungarian cellist Miklós Perényi and Hungarian-born virtuoso British classical pianist and conductor András Schiff perform Franz Schubert’s Sonata in A minor for Arpeggione and Piano, D. 821, also known as the “Arpeggione Sonata”. The sonata is originally written for arpeggione, a six-stringed musical instrument, fretted and tuned like a guitar, but bowed like a cello, and thus similar to the bass viola da gamba.
Franz Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata
This piece is the only notable piece extant for arpeggione, which was invented in 1823 by the Viennese guitar maker Johann Georg Stauffer (January 26, 1778 – 24 January 1853). Today, the piece is heard almost exclusively in transcriptions for cello and piano or viola and piano.
The work consists of three movements.
- Allegro moderato
- Adagio in E major
- Allegretto in A major
![Schubert: Arpeggione sonata [Argerich, Maisky]](https://cdn-0.andantemoderato.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Martha-Argerich-Mischa-Maisky-Schubert-Sonata-D-821-Arpeggione-1024x576.jpg)
Miklós Perényi
Miklós Perényi (born 5 January 1948) is a Hungarian cellist. He was born in Budapest into a musical family and studied at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest with Ede Banda and Enrico Mainardi. He continued his studies at the Accademia Santa Cecilia, graduating in 1962. In 1963 he won a prize at the Pablo Casals International Violoncello Competition in Budapest.
In 1965 and 1966 he studied with Pablo Casals in Zermatt and Puerto Rico and afterward performed at Marlboro Festival for four consecutive years. In 1974 he became a lecturer and in 1980 a professor at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music, but while teaching continued to perform internationally. He has been a regular guest of the Theatre de la Ville in Paris for solo works and chamber music performances.
András Schiff
Sir András Schiff is a Hungarian-born British classical pianist and conductor. Schiff is world renowned for his interpretations of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and Schumann. He won the 1990 Grammy Award for “Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra)” for English Suites by Bach. Schiff was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in her 2014 Birthday Honours for services to music.
The awards that Schiff has won include:
- a 1990 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra) – English Suites by Bach
- a 1990 Gramophone Award for a Schubert recital with Peter Schreier
- the Bartók Prize in 1991
- the Claudio Arrau Memorial Medal in 1994
- the Kossuth Prize in 1996
- the Léonie Sonning Music Prize in 1997
- honorary membership in the Beethoven House in Bonn, awarded in 2006 for his complete recording of Beethoven’s piano sonatas
- the Italian prize, Premio della critica musicale Franco Abbiati, also for his Beethoven cycle in 2007
- also in 2007, the Royal Academy of Music Bach Prize, sponsored by the Kohn Foundation, was awarded to “an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the performance and/or scholarly study of Johann Sebastian Bach”
- the Wigmore Hall Medal in 2008
- also in 2008, the Klavier-Festival Ruhr Prize, for outstanding pianistic achievement
- the Robert Schumann Prize of the City of Zwickau in 2011
- and in January 2012, the Golden Mozart Medal of the International Stiftung Mozarteum.
He has been made an Honorary Professor by music academies in Budapest, Detmold, and Munich and is a Special Supernumerary Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Northern College of Music. In December 2013, the Royal Philharmonic Society awarded him its Gold Medal.
He has created a Knight Bachelor in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list of 2014, for services to music.
Sources
- Arpeggione Sonata on Wikipedia
- Arpeggione on Wikipedia
- Miklós Perényi on Wikipedia
- András Schiff on Wikipedia
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