Search - Vienna Glass Armonica Duo :: Glass & Stones: A concert with Glass Armonica & Verrophone

They are built of natural stone, these noble halls of this world heritage site. A fascinating thought when you're standing under arches that are hundreds of years old. The stones seem to whisper - because, in the quiet of their existence, you seem to feel how they are imbued with all those voices and instruments that filled these walls with their sounds - violins, the sound of trumpets, the organ and singing' wood and metal. But in the end, isn't it the material of the body that makes the sound of an instrument? It was the sound of the glass armonica that inspired Mozart to write a minuet and, after hearing how his composition sounded on the glass harmonica, Arvo Pärt gave the Ensemble his one-time permission to perform "Pari Intervallo" with the "glass instrument". Even Gottfried Keller described the sound and effect of the instrument as "...then it began to play in the most ghostly tones I have ever heard...". Now, the glass armonica is made of glass - plain old glass - melted sand, nothing more. But this is also the same basic material as these world heritage walls are made of - natural sandstone... And during this concert by these Viennese artists, it was as if I could feel the walls vibrating and I thought I heard the very stones singing. (Josef-Stefan Kindler, K&K Verlagsanstalt)