Vienna Mandolin Stories
Alon Sariel, Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens
"Vienna Mandolin Stories" is Alon Sariel's first pure concert album and invites the listener on a journey through Vienna at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century. It contains works for mandolin and orchestra by Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Krahmer and Giovanni Paisiello. Some pieces were originally composed for mandolin, others have been skillfully arranged by Sariel. The album is driven by Sariel's inventive and playful approach, as expressed in 'Haydn's Mandolin Concerto', an imaginative new arrangement that combines sections from different concerti, including one by Ignaz Malzat, which was long mistakenly attributed to Haydn. Highlights also include the 'bluegrass' cadenza in the slow movement of the Haydn concerto and the clever allusion to Bach's "Wohltemperierte Klavier" in Sariel's arrangement of Mozart's Andante for flute and orchestra. Sariel brings the works for mandolin and orchestra by Ernest Krähmer to the fore, which were recently discovered in the Bavarian State Library and are recorded here for the first time. The Ensemble Kölner Akademie under the direction of Michael Alexander Willens with its historical instruments provides the ideal sound environment for these lively and colorful works. Alon Sariel is one of the most versatile plucked string players of our time and has made a name for himself as a multi-instrumentalist and compelling interpreter of Bach.
