Schubert: Sonata in A minor, D.821 'Arpeggione' / Piano Trio No. 2, Op. 100, D. 929

Schubert's Arpeggione Sonata has today become part of the cello repertoire but it was originally written for the arpeggione, a form of bowed guitar invented by the Viennese maker Johann Georg Staufer in 1823. With a unique ethereal sound, this instrument reveals the true beauty of Schubert's initial conception. The Piano Trio No. 2 was performed at the Vienna Musikverein on the first anniversary of Beethovens death its extremes of urgent drama and sublime bittersweet lyricism are characteristic of Schubert's artistic surge during his final year.