Beethoven & Lentz Arabella Steinbacher, Luxembourg Philharmonic & Gustavo Gimeno

• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827): Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61:
• 1 Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61: I. Allegro ma non troppo 24:26
• 2 Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61: II. Larghetto 09:27
• 3 Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61: III. Rondo. Allegro 10:22
• Georges Lentz (b. 1965): "...to beam in distant heavens..."
• 4 Lentz: "...to beam in distant heavens..." - Violin Concerto: Lento (soloist plays offstage at the beginning) 06:21
• 5 Lentz: "...to beam in distant heavens..." - Violin Concerto: bar 78 [Vivace] 05:09
• 6 Lentz: "...to beam in distant heavens..." - Violin Concerto: bar 187 03:52
• 7 Lentz: "...to beam in distant heavens..." - Violin Concerto: bar 212 [Vivace] 08:50
• 8 Lentz: "...to beam in distant heavens..." - Violin Concerto: bar 370 - An Elegy for our Grandchildren's Planet 06:00
• 9 Lentz: "...to beam in distant heavens..." - Violin Concerto: bar 415 05:44
• Total Runtime 01:20:11

Info for Beethoven & Lentz

Violinist Arabella Steinbacher, the Luxembourg Philharmonic (previously called Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg) and conductor Gustavo Gimeno present violin concertos by Beethoven and Lentz. Beethoven’s violin concerto may well be the most iconic contribution to its genre, and to Steinbacher, it is the most “sacred” and sublime in the repertoire, never ceasing to reveal new perspectives. The piece is coupled with Georges Lentz’ Violin Concerto ‘ …to beam in distant heavens…’, written for Steinbacher and inspired by her virtuosity. Lentz’ concerto is equally inspired by William Blake’s poetry, as well as the idea that a future generation will one day look back on us and the way we destroy our planet. Oscillating between cosmic violence and angelic visions of love and hope, it places heavy demands on the soloist, and offers an illuminating counterpart to Beethoven’s equally searching and idealist work. Luxembourg Philharmonic and Gustavo Gimeno are the ideal partners for this cosmic, adventurous pairing.

Arabella Steinbacher, violin
Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg
Gustavo Gimeno, conductor

Arabella Steinbacher
Celebrated worldwide as one of today’s leading soloists, Arabella Steinbacher is known for her extraordinarily varied repertoire, comprising pieces from the classical and romantic eras, alongside modernist concerto works by Barber, Berg, Britten, Bruch, Gubaidulina, Hindemith, Korngold, Milhaud, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Sibelius.

Arabella Steinbacher opens the 2024/25 season with a performance of Korngold’s Violin Concerto at the Engadin Festival. Shortly afterwards she will play Beethoven’s Violin Concerto at the Yerevan Festival before returning to the Dresdner Philharmonie in September. Further engagements will take her to KBS Symphony Orchestra in Seoul and to the National Symphony Orchestra Taiwan where she will perform alongside their Music Director Jun Märkl. In Europe, she performs Barber’s Violin Concerto with the Staatskapelle Weimar under the direction of Otto Tausk. Arabella Steinbacher will also perform with the Philharmonia Orchestra London and conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali. Furthermore, she will return to Festival Strings Lucerne with whom she has a long-standing musical friendship. At the start of the season, she will play a benefit concert with the Münchener Kammerorchester for the Munich AIDS organisation (Münchner-AIDS-Hilfe) on the occasion of the 25th World AIDS Conference.

In February 2025, she will celebrate the German premiere of George Lentz’s violin concerto ‘…to beam in distant heavens…’ with the WDR Sinfonieorchester and Ryan Bancroft. In June, she will then give the premiere in her second home, Japan, with the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra under the baton of their Chief Conductor Nodoka Okisawa. The piece, which was written especially for her, was jointly commissioned by the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, where it premiered in April 2023.

In Spring 2025, Arabella Steinbacher will tour with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and their Principal Guest Conductor Sir Mark Elder. Another highlight of the season is the invitation to the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra where she will play Brahms’ Double Concerto with Julia Hagen and conductor Kirill Karabits. To conclude the season, the violinist will return to Sydney Symphony Orchestra with Edward Gardner.

Other orchestras she has collaborated with include the New York Philharmonic, the Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and Göteborgs Symfoniker. Arabella Steinbacher has also performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra as well as the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. She has toured extensively with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg and Deutsche Radiophilharmonie Saarbrücken.

Arabella Steinbacher works with conductors such as Marin Alsop, Herbert Blomstedt, Christoph von Dohnányi, Christoph Eschenbach, Lawrence Foster, Jakub Hrůša, Pietari Inkinen, Vladimir Jurowski, Fabio Luisi, Zubin Mehta, Andris Nelsons, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Kirill Petrenko, John Storgårds, and Kazuki Yamada.

Her extensive discography impressively demonstrates her diverse repertoire. Her most recent recording with the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg under the baton of Gustavo Gimeno will be released on Pentatone in spring 2025, featuring Georges Lentz’s “…to beam in distant heavens…” alsongside Beethoven’s violin concerto. Previous recordings for Pentatone, with whom she records exclusively, include a disc with the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester and works by Arvo Pärt and Johann Sebastian Bach, as well as her highly praised Mozart cycle with Festival Strings Lucerne and ‘The Four Seasons’ of both Astor Piazzolla and Antonio Vivaldi, which was recorded with Arabella Steinbacher play-directing the Münchener Kammerorchester.

Born into a family of musicians, she has played the violin since the age of three and began her studies with Ana Chumachenco at the University of Music and Theatre Munich when she was eight. She cites the late Israeli violinist Ivry Gitlis as a source of musical inspiration and guidance.

Arabella currently plays the violins of Antonio Stradivari, Cremona, 1718, known as the „ex Benno Walter“, and the Guarneri del Gesù „Sainton“, Cremona, 1744, both generously provided by a private Swiss Foundation.

Booklet for Beethoven & Lentz