Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto & String Quartet No. 3 Antje Weithaas

• Piotr Ilitch Tchaïkovski (1840 - 1893): Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35:
• 1 Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35: I. Allegro moderato 19:18
• 2 Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35: II. Canzonetta. Andante 07:02
• 3 Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35: III. Finale. Allegro vivacissimo 10:58
• String Quartet No. 3 in E-Flat Minor, Op. 30:
• 4 String Quartet No. 3 in E-Flat Minor, Op. 30: I. Andante sostenuto - Allegro moderato 16:51
• 5 String Quartet No. 3 in E-Flat Minor, Op. 30: II. Allegretto vivo e scherzando 04:18
• 6 String Quartet No. 3 in E-Flat Minor, Op. 30: III. Andante funebre e doloroso, ma con moto 11:40
• 7 String Quartet No. 3 in E-Flat Minor, Op. 30: IV. Finale. Allegro non troppo e risoluto 06:16
• Total Runtime 01:16:23

Info for Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto & String Quartet No. 3

"Admittedly, it is quite exceptional for an orchestra and a soloist to record the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto without a conductor. Some members of Camerata Bern were less worried about this project; others – including myself – had their misgivings at first.

Essential questions remained with us throughout: how do we stay in sync while ensuring that the music remains lively and flexible; how can we go on interacting? What we are applying here is indeed a chamber music approach, which is supposed to allow us to gain in terms of freedom and clarity.

Otherwise, such a project would not be justified. Now, listening to the result, I must concede that the adventure was well worth the effort, even though such projects can only succeed when the soloist and the orchestra know one another very well, as is the case with myself and the Camerata. After several days of intense recording sessions, I feel thoroughly grateful to all members of the ensemble and to the marvellous additional wind section for the incredibly stimulating, creative time

we spent together. The shared atmosphere created a kind of energy that released unforeseen potential in us and inspired everyone involved. Of course we could already look back on our previous collaborations: in the Beethoven Violin Concerto, and particularly in the Brahms. Now, recording the Tchaikovsky, we found those experiences extremely helpful.

I wanted to record Tchaikovsky for several reasons. Most importantly, I love Tchaikovsky’s music, particularly the two works featured on this recording. I wanted to coax the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto out of the corner of virtuoso tradition it has occupied until now. In certain aspects, an established way of playing it has become somewhat cemented over the last decades. But neither do I see that approach justified in the score, nor does it correspond with my view of Tchaikovsky as a musician and as a human being. We all found it thrilling to challenge and question our previous experience with this piece, both as performers and as listeners, and to tackle it as if it was new to us. I had played the Tchaikovsky Concerto a lot as a student, but had not returned to it for over ten years. Besides, German violinists are generally not often called upon to interpret Russian composers. What better point in time than this one to learn the piece once more, almost from scratch? I purchased a new score; I intensely studied the Henle Urtext edition and tried to develop a fresh approach, daring to question tradition by taking Tchaikovsky’s tempo relations, dynamics and articulation utterly seriously.

I view Tchaikovsky as a gracefully elegant, thoroughly aristocratic Russian, and I wanted to help the listener clearly discern his moving sadness and yearning: however, this music always remains elegant and noble in spite of its emotional depth. These aspects are thoroughly Russian, but in a very fine, subtle way. I extend my heartfelt thanks to all members of Camerata Bern for this thrilling production.

What a luxury to be able to make music together in this way!"

Antje Weithaas, solo violin, direction
Camerata Bern

Antje Weithaas
One can hardly imagine a better advocate for music than Antje Weithaas. For her, not only does music itself take the fore but also its conveyance to the public. As one of the most sought-after soloists and chamber musicians of her generation, Antje Weithaas has a wide-ranging repertoire that includes the great concertos by Mozart, Beethoven and Schumann, new works such as the Violin Concerto by Jörg Widmann, modern classics by Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Ligeti and Gubaidulina, and lesser performed concertos by Korngold, Hartmann and Schoeck.

Antje Weithaas has been invited to perform with Germany’s leading orchestras, including the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Bamberg Symphoniker and the major German radio orchestras, as well as numerous major international orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Symphony, and the leading orchestras of the Netherlands, Scandinavia, and Asia. She has worked with the illustrious conductors Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sir Neville Marriner, Yuri Temirkanov, Yakov Kreizberg, Sakari Oramo and Carlos Kalmar.

Antje Weithaas kicks off her 2014/15 season with concerts at the Edinburgh International Festival and Rheingau Music Festival. With Camerata Bern, whose artistic director she has been since the 2009/10 season, she will perform Brahms’ Violin Concerto, appear in a joint project with Lars Vogt and go on tour in Central America. Two special highlights of the season will be her performances as soloist in concerts with the Konzerthaus-Orchester Berlin under Michael Gielen (Berg) and in recital at Wigmore Hall. Having been featured in a residency at de Singel Antwerp in the 2013/14 season, which showcased her musical versatility, Antje Weithaas will be Artist in Residence of the Philharmonic State Orchestra of Mainz in the current season and curate a Schumann weekend at the Schwetzingen Festival.

The Arcanto Quartet, with fellow violinist Daniel Sepec, violist Tabea Zimmermann and cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras, continues to be particularly important for Antje Weithaas’ chamber music activities. In recent years, the quartet has performed at Carnegie Hall in New York, the Gulbenkian Foundation Lisbon, Palau de la Música Barcelona, Théâtre du Châtelet and Cité de la Musique Paris, the Philharmonie in Berlin and the Konzerthaus Vienna, as well as touring Israel, Japan and North America. On the label Harmonia Mundi, they released CDs with works by Bartók, Brahms, Ravel, Dutilleux, Debussy and Schubert.

Antje Weithaas has released several highly acclaimed recordings of sonatas by Brahms and Mendelssohn, as well as of works by Dvorák, Suk, Schubert, Saint-Saëns, Ravel and Fauré with Silke Avenhaus on the CAvi-music label. Her most recent releases are the recording of the Berg and Beethoven Violin Concertos with the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra under Steven Sloane on the Cavi Label, and Vol. 1 of the complete recording of Max Bruch’s works for Violin and Orchestra for cpo with the NDR Radio Philharmonic under Hermann Bäumer. Her first joint CD with Camerata Bern, a recording of Mendelssohn’s concerto for violin, piano and orchestra (with Alexander Lonquich) and his string quintet No. 2 in B-flat major Op. 87 (for string orchestra) was followed by a CD with works by Beethoven (String Quartet No. 11, Kreutzer Sonata).

Antje Weithaas began playing the violin at the age of four and later studied at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” Berlin with Professor Werner Scholz. She won the Kreisler Competition in Graz in 1987 and the Bach Competition in Leipzig in 1988, as well as the Hanover International Violin Competition in 1991. After teaching at the Universität der Künste Berlin, Antje Weithaas became a professor of violin at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” in 2004. She plays on a 2001 Peter Greiner violin.

Booklet for Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto & String Quartet No. 3