The jew's harp is a lameliophone: the tongue/reed is placed in the performer's mouth and plucked with the finger to produce a note. It is one of the oldest instruments in the world, with a history of over 4000 years, starting in China. Surely this is one of the unlikeliest concertante instruments, yet it is relatively well-known because of the four surviving concertos for jew's harp, mandora and orchestra by Johann Albrechtsberger (one of the teachers of Beethoven) around 1765. It should be noted that the mandora (an older version of the lute) is used more in a basso continuo fashion in these compositions, making the jew's harp the real concertante instrument. I have selected the concerto in E major, played by Fritz Mayr with the Munchner Kammerorchester under Hans Stadlmair on Orfeo.
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