FREE UK SHIPPING OVER £30!

Brahms - Violin Concerto (LP)

£20.58

Usually available for despatch within 2-3 working days

Label: C-AVI

Cat No: AVI8553343

Barcode: 4260085533435

Format: LP

Number of Discs: 1

Release Date: 26th February 2016

Works

Brahms, Johannes

Scherzo in C minor (F.A.E. Sonata), WoO2
Violin Concerto in D major, op.77

Artists

Antje Weithaas (violin)
Silke Avenhaus (piano)
Camerata Bern

Conductor

Antje Weithaas

Works

Brahms, Johannes

Scherzo in C minor (F.A.E. Sonata), WoO2
Violin Concerto in D major, op.77

Artists

Antje Weithaas (violin)
Silke Avenhaus (piano)
Camerata Bern

Conductor

Antje Weithaas

About

For any violinist, the Brahms Concerto is a special challenge and a precious gem, a piece one works on for decades. I studied it more intensely for the first time when I was 18/19; now I’m astounded to note how one’s perception of such a work can change so radically. Amongst all violin concertos, Brahms, Beethoven and Mendelssohn play an essential role, and I would add Britten and Shostakovich. The Brahms Violin Concerto is part of our essential repertoire, and was composed at a time when the “customary” violin concerto no longer had any significance as virtuoso display for a soloist (incidentally, that’s my own credo as a performer). This is a symphonic work, an aspect that relates it to the recording of Berg and Beethoven I made with Stavanger Symphony Orchestra a couple of years ago. Those two pieces from different stylistic periods are actually works for orchestra with obligato solo violin – and the same applies to the Brahms Concerto. The violin often plays passagework around the orchestra melody, as in the Beethoven Concerto, which is why I find the symphonic approach so important here as well. …. We tackled the challenge of performing and recording without a conductor. Of course, when I otherwise perform this concerto with a conductor, I intensely learn and think through the orchestra part in my head. It is a challenge I am aware of, and I thus probably would never have had dared to perform this concerto without a conductor. But since I’ve often performed the Beethoven Concerto with the Camerata Bern without a conductor, I started thinking that the Brahms Concerto just might work as well. Over the past 7-9 years we have become so well-acquainted with one another on a musical and personal level that by now we manage to communicate with blindfolds on. I probably would not have dared to embark on this adventure with any other ensemble. The most important thing is that each musician should remain in a “chamber music” attitude while providing the necessary symphonic energy and assuming his/her share of responsibility. - Antje Weithaas, soloist and leader of Camerata Bern