The perfect classical half-hour

If you went to a wine tavern in Vienna in the 1890's, the chances are you'd encounter a Schrammel ensemble. With a couple of violins, a guitar, and a clarinet or accordion, they played their own arrangements of local folk songs, waltzes, polkas and Viennese dialect songs, and they were all the rage, admired by Brahms and Schoenberg among others. There's been a revival in Schrammelmusik in recent years - and we begin and end with two fine examples. In between it's a wander around the musical alleyways of the city, taking in Schubert, as interpreted by Liszt and hurdy-gurdy player Matthias Loibner, Papa Haydn, and renaissance composer Leonhard Päminger.

Producer: Roger Short