"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!"
In addition to her phenomenal career as a soloist and chamber musician, Antje Weithaas is a soughtafter conductor, particularly renowned for her play-conduct collaborations with leading international chamber orchestras.
As artistic director of Camerata Bern for nearly a decade, she helped shape the ensemble’s distinctive musical identity and continues to collaborate with them regularly. From the concertmaster’s podium, she has conducted large-scale repertoire, including Beethoven’s symphonies, and has recorded works by Tchaikovsky, Brahms, and Beethoven for CAvi.
She has also enjoyed a close artistic partnership as artiste associé with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris.
In 2025, she will embark on a South American tour with the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra. Her extensive discography includes Beethoven’s and Berg’s Violin Concertos (with the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and Steven Sloane, CAvi) and the complete works for violin and orchestra by Max Bruch (with the NDR Radiophilharmonie under Hermann Bäumer, CPO). Her acclaimed solo recordings feature J. S. Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas and Eugène Ysaÿe’s Six Sonatas. Further highlights include celebrated recordings of Robert Schumann’s Violin Concerto and Johannes Brahms’ Double Concerto—alongside cellist Maximilian Hornung and conductor Andrew Manze—which received the BBC Music Magazine Award in the „Concerto“ category. Her recording of Aram Khachaturian’s Violin Concerto and Concerto-Rhapsody with the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie, conducted by Daniel Raiskin, was also met with critical acclaim. Antje Weithaas began playing the violin at the age of four and studied with Professor Werner Scholz at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin.
She won the Kreisler Competition in Graz in 1987, the Bach Competition in Leipzig in 1988, and the prestigious Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition Hannover in 1991, which she now co-directs artistically with Oliver Wille. After teaching for several years at the Universität der Künste Berlin, she joined the faculty at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” in 2004, where she has since become one of the world’s most respected violin pedagogues.
She performs on a 2001 violin by Peter Greiner.
CAMERATA BERN, founded in 1962 and consisting of 15 soloists, stands for artistic excellence as
well as for curiosity and the joy of playing, always fostering tradition as well as breaking new ground
and engaging audiences with a multifaceted programme.
Violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja and cellist Steven Isserlis are associated with the ensemble as
Artistic Partners.
CAMERATA BERN is committed to artistic diversity and moves between preserving the string ensemble
tradition, engaging with historical performance practice and actively embracing new concert
formats and contemporary music.
Rooted in Bern with its own concert series, CAMERATA BERN regularly performs at international
festivals and in leading concert halls in Switzerland, Europe and beyond. While CAMERATA BERN
cultivates the chamber music style of ensemble playing, it calls upon additional musicians for each
individual project.
In addition to the collaborations with the Artistic Partners, the ensemble is regularly performing
with soloists and guest leaders such as Anna Prohaska, Kristian Bezuidenhout, Alina Ibragimova or
its former Artistic Director Antje Weithaas.
CAMERATA BERN‘s numerous recordings have won international awards, such as the Grand Prix du
Disque, the German Record Critics‘ Award and the BBC Music Magazine Award. CAMERATA BERN
and Antje Weithaas released a critically acclaimed recording of P-eteris Vasks’ second violin concerto
in 2024 on the CAvi-music label. Most recently, the album EXILE has been published in January
2025 with Artistic Partner Patricia Kopatchinakaja on the Alpha Classics label.
The ensemble also regularly brings music directly to the people, beyond the traditional concert
context, with school concerts in the canton of Bern and with the ‘KonzertGeschenke’ format in rural
areas and in social and educational institutions such as asylum centres, prisons and special schools.
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