Music from 19th century Vienna for Guitar and Fortepiano – Erik Stenstadvold

Viennese music for guitar and piano

Vienna at the time of Beethoven and Schubert was unequivocally the musical centre of Europe. With music permeating every aspect of daily life in all classes of society, there was an unprecedented demand for new music of every kind, for every occasion. As a result, Vienna became a magnet for musicians and composers. This album presents some of the finest music composed for guitar and fortepiano in Vienna at that time.

The Norwegian guitarist Erik Stenstadvold, a respected authority on 19th century guitar music and performance practice, and the English pianist Brenda Blewett, have since 1989 performed together, presenting the neglected 19th century repertoire for guitar and fortepiano on period instruments and performing modern music combining guitar and piano, or guitar and harpsichord. Using Viennese instruments from about the same period in which the music was composed, the duo here performs beautiful and largely unknown works by Giuliani, Hummel, Diabelli and Beethoven.