Serenade in D major, Op. 41
Sonatina in C minor, WoO 43a
12 Variations in F major, WoO 40 on the aria ‘Se vuol ballare’
Sonatina in C major, WoO 44a
Adagio ma non troppo in E flat major, WoO 43b
Andante con Variazioni in D major, WoO 44b
Five Pieces for Mechanical Clock from WoO 33a /b
12 Variations in F major, Op. 66 on the aria ‘Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen’ (Arranged by Ferdinando Carulli)

Around 1800 Vienna was, alongside Paris, one of the European centres for guitar performance. The instrument was well suited for the idiom of Viennese classicism and ideal for domestic music-making and it was promoted by figures such as the virtuoso Mauro Giuliani and the composer/publisher Anton Diabelli. But Beethoven, the towering giant of musical Vienna, seems to have been unmoved by the charms of the guitar – while instead composing for its sibling, the mandolin.

Duo Halász, the husband and wife team of Franz and Débora Halász, has now rectified this, by appropriating Beethoven’s four extant pieces for mandolin and piano (WoO 43 and 44) as well as adapting some other early compositions, including the Serenade in D major for flute and piano and the Variations on Mozart’s ‘Se vuolballare’ for violin and piano. In doing so they follow the example of an eminent guitarist and contemporary of Beethoven, namely Ferdinando Carulli, whose 1825 arrangement of the Variations on Mozart’s ‘Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen’ closes the programme. Franz and Débora Halász have made a number of recordings for BIS, together and separately, to critical acclaim, including a Latin Grammy Award for their disc Alma Brasileira with chamber works by Radamés Gnattali.

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Recording: December 2018 and February 2019 at the Großer Saal der Hochschule für Musik und Theater. Instrumentarium: Grand piano: Steinway D; Guitar: Matthias Dammann