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JS Bach - Violin Concertos

£18.35

In stock - available for despatch within 1 working day

Label: Harmonia Mundi

Cat No: HMM90233536

Barcode: 3149020935811

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 2

Genre: Orchestral

Release Date: 15th March 2019

Works

Bach, Johann Sebastian

Cantata BWV21 'Ich hatte viel Bekummernis'

» Sinfonia

Cantata BWV174 'Ich liebe den Hochsten von ganzem Gemute'

» Sinfonia

Cantata BWV182 'Himmelskonig, sei willkommen'

» Sinfonia

Concerto for 2 violins in D minor, BWV1043
Concerto for oboe and violin in C minor, BWV1060
Orchestral Suite no.2 in B minor, BWV1067 (arr. for solo violin in A minor)
Sinfonia (concerto movement) in D major, BWV1045
Trio Sonata no.3 in D minor, BWV527
Trio Sonata no.5 in C major, BWV529
Violin Concerto in D minor, BWV1052
Violin Concerto in G minor, BWV1056
Violin Concerto no.1 in A minor, BWV1041
Violin Concerto no.2 in E major, BWV1042

Artists

Isabelle Faust (violin)
Bernhard Forck (violin)
Xenia Loeffler (oboe)
Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin

Works

Bach, Johann Sebastian

Cantata BWV21 'Ich hatte viel Bekummernis'

» Sinfonia

Cantata BWV174 'Ich liebe den Hochsten von ganzem Gemute'

» Sinfonia

Cantata BWV182 'Himmelskonig, sei willkommen'

» Sinfonia

Artists

Isabelle Faust (violin)
Bernhard Forck (violin)
Xenia Loeffler (oboe)
Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin

About

After the double album of the violin and harpsichord sonatas with Kristian Bezuidenhout, a bestseller in 2018, here is the next instalment in the Bach recording adventure that began nine years ago with a set of the Sonatas and Partitas now regarded as a benchmark.

Isabelle Faust and Bernhard Forck and his partners at the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin have explored patiently a multitude of other works by Bach: harpsichord concertos, trio sonatas for organ, instrumental movements from sacred cantatas... All are revealed here as direct or indirect relatives of the three monumental concertos BWV 1041-43.

This fascinating achievement is a timely reminder that the master of The Well-Tempered Clavier was also a virtuoso violinist.

Sound/Video

Paused

1

Johann Sebastian Bach: Violin Concerto In D Minor, BWV 1052r: I. Allegro
2

Johann Sebastian Bach: Violin Concerto In D Minor, BWV 1052r: II. Adagio
3

Johann Sebastian Bach: Violin Concerto In D Minor, BWV 1052r: III. Allegro
4

Johann Sebastian Bach: Ich Liebe Den Höchsten Von Ganzem Gemüte, BWV 174: I. Sinfonia
5

Johann Sebastian Bach: Violin Concerto In E Major, BWV 1042: I. Allegro
6

Johann Sebastian Bach: Violin Concerto In E Major, BWV 1042: II. Adagio
7

Johann Sebastian Bach: Violin Concerto In E Major, BWV 1042: III. Allegro Assai
8

Johann Sebastian Bach: Ich Hatte Viel Bekümmernis, BWV 21: Sinfonia
9

Johann Sebastian Bach: Trio Sonata In C Major, BWV 529: I. Allegro (Arr. For 2 Violins And Basso Continuo)
10

Johann Sebastian Bach: Trio Sonata In C Major, BWV 529: II. Largo (Arr. For 2 Violins And Basso Continuo)
11

Johann Sebastian Bach: Trio Sonata In C Major, BWV 529: III. Allegro (Arr. For 2 Violins And Basso Continuo)
12

Johann Sebastian Bach: Concerto For Violin And Oboe In C Minor, BWV 1060r: I. Allegro
13

Johann Sebastian Bach: Concerto For Violin And Oboe In C Minor, BWV 1060r: II. Largo Ovvero Adagio
14

Johann Sebastian Bach: Concerto For Violin And Oboe In C Minor, BWV 1060r: III. Allegro
15

Johann Sebastian Bach: Overture No. 2 In B Minor, BWV 1067: I. Ouverture
16

Johann Sebastian Bach: Overture No. 2 In B Minor, BWV 1067: II. Rondeau
17

Johann Sebastian Bach: Overture No. 2 In B Minor, BWV 1067: III. Sarabande
18

Johann Sebastian Bach: Overture No. 2 In B Minor, BWV 1067: IV. Bourrées I & II
19

Johann Sebastian Bach: Overture No. 2 In B Minor, BWV 1067: V. Polonaise. Moderato E Staccato. Double
20

Johann Sebastian Bach: Overture No. 2 In B Minor, BWV 1067: VI. Menuet
21

Johann Sebastian Bach: Overture No. 2 In B Minor, BWV 1067: VII. Badinerie. Staccato
22

Johann Sebastian Bach: Trio Sonata In D Minor, BWV 527: I. Andante (Arr. For Oboe, Violin And Basso Continuo)
23

Johann Sebastian Bach: Trio Sonata In D Minor, BWV 527: II. Adagio E Dolce (Arr. For Oboe, Violin And Basso Continuo)
24

Johann Sebastian Bach: Trio Sonata In D Minor, BWV 527: III. Vivace (Arr. For Oboe, Violin And Basso Continuo)
25

Johann Sebastian Bach: Violin Concerto In G Minor, BWV 1056r: I. [No Tempo Marking]
26

Johann Sebastian Bach: Violin Concerto In G Minor, BWV 1056r: II. Largo
27

Johann Sebastian Bach: Violin Concerto In G Minor, BWV 1056r: III. Presto
28

Johann Sebastian Bach: Himmelskönig, Sei Willkommen, BWV 182: I. Sonata. Grave. Adagio
29

Johann Sebastian Bach: Violin Concerto In A Minor, BWV 1041: I. [No Tempo Marking]
30

Johann Sebastian Bach: Violin Concerto In A Minor, BWV 1041: II. Andante
31

Johann Sebastian Bach: Violin Concerto In A Minor, BWV 1041: III. Allegro Assai
32

Johann Sebastian Bach: Sinfonia In D Major, BWV 1045
33

Johann Sebastian Bach: Concerto For 2 Violins In D Minor, BWV 1043: I. Vivace
34

Johann Sebastian Bach: Concerto For 2 Violins In D Minor, BWV 1043: II. Largo Ma Non Tanto
35

Johann Sebastian Bach: Concerto For 2 Violins In D Minor, BWV 1043: III. Allegro

Europadisc Review

Having already set down her accounts of the solo violin Sonatas and Partitas, as well as the accompanied Violin Sonatas with Krystian Bezuidenhout, Harmonia Mundi’s star violinist Isabelle Faust now turns her attention to the concertos. This is repertoire she recorded some years ago for Hänssler Classics with the more ‘mainstream’ accompaniment of Helmut Rilling and his Bach Collegium Stuttgart. This time, however, working with the superb period instrumentalists of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, it’s with bells on: not just the sheer quality of the playing, but the music itself. For, in addition to the usual fare of the two Violin Concertos in A minor and E major plus the D minor Concerto for two violins and the Concerto for oboe and violin, there’s a veritable plethora of reconstructed concertos, cantata sinfonias and trio sonatas, even an orchestral suite in an unusual guise, all featuring notable concertante parts for solo violin. Two discs’ worth of sparkling music, and generously priced to boot!

Proceedings kick off with the mighty D minor Concerto, BWV 1052, which survives as a keyboard concerto and has long been a favourite with pianists and harpsichordists from Lipatti and Gould to Rousset and Staier. But, as Bach specialist Peter Wollny explains in his booklet notes, it has for some years been thought that the work originated in a lost violin concerto. Faust is far from being the first violinist to tackle this reconstruction (Szigeti and Ricci were among the earliest), but she is surely the most convincing, dashing off the virtuoso – and persuasively violinistic – figuration with tremendous flair and naturalness. Given the faultless intonation elsewhere on the album, the perceptible note of sourness introduced by soloist and orchestra in the slow movement seems a deliberate interpretative strategy, emphasising the mournful, lament-like Affekt of the music, and it certainly works a treat.

The other two concertos on CD1 are a beautifully poised account of the E major Violin Concerto – outer movements pert, central Adagio wonderfully dreamy – and the well-known C minor Concerto for oboe and violin, itself a reconstruction from a concerto for three harpsichords. Here Faust is partnered by oboist Xenia Löffler, and they make an excellent team, not least in the glorious interweaving lines of the Largo ovvero Adagio second movement, while they rise magnificently to the demands of the closing Allegro, which is taken here at quite a lick. Peppered in between these three concertos are two cantata sinfonias: the heart-stopping opening movement of Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis, BWV 21, and the dazzlingly expanded version of the first movement of Brandenburg Concerto no.3 (with added horns and oboes!) that opens Cantata BWV 174. For a complete change of scale there’s also some chamber music: the Organ Trio Sonata in C major, BWV 529, rescored for two violins (Faust and Bernhard Forck, the AAM Berlin’s concertmaster) and continuo, captivating in its intimacy.

On disc two, Löffler and Forck exchange roles, with Löffler now the trio sonata partner in a chamber transcription of the D minor Organ Trio, BWV 527 (with a slow movement that was later incorporated into the A minor ‘Triple’ Concerto for flute, violin and harpsichord), and Forck playing second fiddle to Faust in the much-loved Concerto for two violins in D minor, BWV 1043, including a beautifully inflected account of the central Largo. The disc opens with the famous Orchestral Suite no.2, BWV 1067, transposed down from its normal B minor to A minor and with solo violin replacing the familiar flute. As a reconstruction, it’s less plausible than the others included in this collection, for one misses the distinctive timbre that a wind instrument brings to the top line; but in the virtuoso passages (and above all in the concluding, racy Badinerie) Faust gives it her all, so that there’s always plenty to enjoy. More convincing as a piece of reconstruction is a G minor version of the F minor Keyboard Concerto, BWV 1056, a brooding work that gains much from Faust’s bright-toned playing and the ever-alert accompaniments of her colleagues. And it’s the sweetness of tone that Faust coaxes from her 1658 Jacobus Steiner instrument that is the chief glory of the A minor Violin Concerto, BWV 1041. Too often turned into a dramatic, hard-edged showpiece, this masterpiece is here treated to a gentler touch that enhances its expressiveness and forms one of the undoubted highlights of the album. As throughout, Faust’s ornamentation is tasteful and unintrusive, so that it well withstands the repeated listening her playing so readily invites.

Two more cantata sinfonias, the gentle opening movement from BWV 182 featuring recorder and violin, and the jaw-droppingly spectacular D major Sinfonia, BWV 1045, from an unknown lost work, scored for solo violin trumpets, oboes, timpani, strings and continuo, round off this splendid collection of ‘Violin Concertos Plus’. Recorded at Berlin’s Teldex Studio in a slightly boxy-sounding acoustic that favours the soloist(s) without undue prominence, and with unfailingly stylish playing from the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, this spellbinding album deserves to be on every Bach lover’s shelf. Enthusiastically recommended to all and sundry!

Reviews

That Isabelle Faust and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin have let this Bach violin concertos album run to nearly 2 hours of music suggests a relish of their task that is mirrored triumphantly in the resultant music-making. Their choice of repertoire, too, feels driven by a desire to celebrate Bach’s life with the violin rather than document it. ... Everything here is energy, though the exuberance is of the grounded kind that never gets out of hand. ... I’m not sure I’ve ever heard the reconstructed concertos sound so convincing (especially the D minor) ... This is a hugely enjoyable celebration of Bach – himself a violinist – which conjures not so much the strict contrapuntal and formal genius as the joyous spirit of the living man. Lindsay Kemp

Gramophone April 2019

...these challenging works are no easy feat for the most talented of musicians. Faust, however, makes it sound effortless. Disc of the Week

Classic FM

Aside from Faust’s élan and dexterity…this substantial release also stands out for its ingenious programme … irresistible.

The Times

Throughout, the playing is of the highest order. ... The tone is set in an arrangement of the D minor Harpsichord Concerto: the tempo is brisk, but nowhere does it seem like an incoherent rush. ... A fleet-footed, unsentimental reading of the much-loved Double Concerto crowns a sequence of field-leading performances. Jan Smaczny (Concerto Choice)

BBC Music Magazine June 2019

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Condition	Description
New	Brand new item, only ever sourced from the official UK distributor. Usually seal-wrapped, although a minority of labels do not use seal-wrap.
Used - Mint	Used item in excellent condition. Not usually seal-wrapped.
Used - Good	Used item with some minor signs of wear and tear. Never seal-wrapped.
Used - Acceptable	Used item with obvious scuffs or cosmetic damage to the case or booklet. Never seal-wrapped.

Condition	Description
New	Brand new item, only ever sourced from the official UK distributor. Usually seal-wrapped, although a minority of labels do not use seal-wrap.
Used - Mint	Used item in excellent condition. Not usually seal-wrapped.
Used - Good	Used item with some minor signs of wear and tear. Never seal-wrapped.
Used - Acceptable	Used item with obvious scuffs or cosmetic damage to the case or booklet. Never seal-wrapped.

JS Bach - Violin Concertos

In stock - available for despatch within 1 working day

Despatch Information

Contents

Works

Artists

Works

Artists

About

Sound/Video

Paused

Europadisc Review

Reviews

Also Available

£16.51

£13.75

£16.51

£6.90

£22.03

Condition Information

Condition Information