Antje Weithaas: Bach & Ysaÿe, Vol. 3 Antje Weithaas

• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): Sonata No. 3 in C Major for Violin Solo, BWV 1005:
• 1I. Adagio03:49
• 2II. Fuga11:00
• 3III. Largo03:22
• 4IV. Allegro assai04:49
• Eugène Ysaÿe (1858-1931): Sonata No. 6 in E Major for Violin Solo, Op. 27:
• 5Allegro giusto non troppo vivo07:33
• 6I. Allemande. Lento maestoso05:46
• 7II. Sarabande. Quasi Lento03:24
• 8III. Finale. Presto ma non troppo03:20
• Johann Sebastian Bach: Partita No. 1 in B Minor for Violin Solo, BWV 1002:
• 9I. Allemanda05:56
• 10II. Double03:02
• 11III. Corrente03:00
• 12IV. Double03:12
• 13V. Sarabande03:52
• 14VI. Double03:24
• 15VII. Tempo di Borea03:09
• 16VIII. Double02:56
• Total Runtime01:11:34

Info for Antje Weithaas: Bach & Ysaÿe, Vol. 3

Eugène Ysaÿe sketched out his six sonatas for solo violin in just 24 hours, after hearing a concert by the violinist Joseph Szigeti in which the latter played the G Minor Sonata BMV 1001 by Johann Sebastian Bach. The 65-year-old Ysaÿe dedicated each of his op. 27 sonatas to a different violinist – he portrayed their characters in the sonatas, but also showed whom he ideally wanted as interpreter for each work. Except for Manuel Quiroga, whose health was very poor, all of the other five virtuosos played the sonata dedicated to them.

Johann Sebastian Bach can be clearly felt as a model in many passages in Ysaÿe's sonatas, whether in the relationship between major and minor, in note-for-note quotes or in the movements' structures. However, whereas Ysaÿe's op. 27 sonatas are full of the sagacity of age, Bach's sonatas and partitas are very early works. Bach was just 31 years old when he composed these masterpieces of the violin literature. But they still capture “the whole of life in its unbelievable complexity,” says Antje Weithaas.

Recording Ysaÿe's sonatas together with the solo sonatas and partitas of Johann Sebastian Bach, thus placing them in direct contrast with one another, was Antje Weithaas' own idea. “The Bach works are very well known. But those by Ysaÿe? He is always being put in the virtuoso category, but also always wanted to be considered a serious composer. And in my eyes, he is!”

Antje Weithaas, violin

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 Antje Weithaas: Bach & Ysaÿe, Vol. 3