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Beethoven, Violin Sonatas Nos 2, 4 & 9 Kreutzer
Ludwig van Beethoven

Antje Weithaas | Dénes Várjon

Beethoven, Violin Sonatas Nos 2, 4 & 9 Kreutzer

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: CAvi
UPC: 4260085535125
Catnr: AVI 8553512
Release date: 14 April 2023
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Label
CAvi
UPC
4260085535125
Catalogue number
AVI 8553512
Release date
14 April 2023
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
EN
DE

About the album

The first three…

Both highly in demand on a worldwide scale as unique, exceptional chamber music performers, Antje Weithaas and Dénes Várjon each ideally combine the highest degree of enthusiasm and precision: their energetic, passionate playing is the result of intense concentration.

In Vol. I of their complete recording of Beethoven’s violin sonatas, Weithaas and Várjon have chosen not to follow chronological order, but to seek out thrilling contrast and fascinating variety instead – thus making Beethoven’s rapid evolution as a composer all the more astounding. Volume 1, featuring Op. 12/2, Op. 23, and Op. 47, revolves around the tonal center of A major / A minor.

All movements in these three sonatas are “in A”, except for the middle movement in the Kreutzer Sonata, which is in F major. All three works follow tradition in terms of general structure: they are in three movements, with rapid outer movements in sonata or rondo form surrounding a slower middle movement that tends to be melodious.

For Beethoven, however, such a link with tradition could only serve as a springboard for innovation.

We can thus clearly trace the astounding transformation of Beethoven’s style between the 2nd and the second-to-last violin sonata, particularly since both are in A major. The two other volumes of this complete recording of Beethoven’s violin sonatas are foreseen for
release within the next 12 months
Die ersten drei …

Mit Antje Weithaas und Dénes Várjon sind zwei Instrumentalisten am Werk, die vor allem durch ihre
begeisternde Musikalität und das absolut präzise und hochkonzentriertes Spiel ein temperamentvolles
Ergebnis abliefern. Beide Künstler sind weltweit als einzigartige Kammermusiker bekannt und
unterwegs.

Sie haben sich bei Vol. I der geplanten Gesamtaufnahme entschieden, nicht der Chronologie zu folgen,
sondern sie suchen - noch reizvoller und abwechslungsreicher - den Kontrast. Hier lassen sich die
kompositorischen Entwicklungen noch frappierender bestaunen. Volume 1 kreist mit Op. 12/2, Op. 23
und Op. 47 tonartlich um das Spektrum von A-Dur und a-Moll.

Das betrifft alle Sätze dieser drei
Sonaten – bis auf den Variationen-Satz der Kreutzer -Sonate in F-Dur. Alle drei Werke dieses Volumes
folgen in Anzahl und formaler Anlage der Sätze der Tradition: Drei Sätze mit schnellem Kopf- und
Finalsatz – in Sonaten- bzw. Rondoform – sowie langsamerem, meist melodisch geprägtem Mittelsatz.

Doch versteht Beethoven den Traditionsbezug als Inspiration für Neues, Eigenes.

Deutlich sind die Entwicklungslinien zwischen der zweiten und vorletzten Violinsonate zu erkunden,
beide eben in A-Dur.

Die beiden weiteren Volumina der Gesamtausgabe sind zur Veröffentlichung über die nächsten 12
Monate eingeplant.

Artist(s)

Antje Weithaas (violin)

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...
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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.


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Dénes Várjon (piano)

Dénes Várjon’s sensational technique, profound musicianship, and wide range of interests have made him one of the most thrilling and highly regarded pianists on the international music scene. Várjon is a universal musician: an excellent soloist, a first-class chamber musician, an artistic director of music festivals, and a highly sought-after piano pedagogue. Widely acknowledged as a preeminent chamber musician, Várjon works on a regular with illustrious partners such as Steven Isserlis, Antje Weithaas, Tabea Zimmermann, Kim Kashkashian, Jörg Widmann, Leonidas Kavakos, András Schiff, Heinz Holliger, Miklós Perényi, and Joshua Bell. As a soloist, he is a welcome guest at major concert series, from New York’s Carnegie Hall to Vienna’s Konzerthaus and London’s Wigmore Hall. He is frequently invited to work with many of the world’s leading symphony orchestras: Budapest, Zurich,...
more
Dénes Várjon’s sensational technique, profound musicianship, and wide range of interests have made him one of the most thrilling and highly regarded pianists on the international music scene. Várjon is a universal musician: an excellent soloist, a first-class chamber musician, an artistic director of music festivals, and a highly sought-after piano pedagogue.
Widely acknowledged as a preeminent chamber musician, Várjon works on a regular with illustrious partners such as Steven Isserlis, Antje Weithaas, Tabea Zimmermann, Kim Kashkashian, Jörg Widmann, Leonidas Kavakos, András Schiff, Heinz Holliger, Miklós Perényi, and Joshua Bell. As a soloist, he is a welcome guest at major concert series, from New York’s Carnegie Hall to Vienna’s Konzerthaus and London’s Wigmore Hall.
He is frequently invited to work with many of the world’s leading symphony orchestras: Budapest, Zurich, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Russian National Orchestra, Kremerata Baltica, and Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, collaborating with eminent conductors, including Sir Georg Solti, Sándor Végh, Iván Fischer, Ádám Fischer, Heinz Holliger, Horst Stein, Leopold Hager, and Zoltán Kocsis. He appears on a regular basis at leading international festivals from Marlboro to Salzburg and Edinburgh.
Dénes Varjón has recorded for the Naxos, Capriccio, ECM, PAN-Classics (CH) and Hungaroton labels with critical acclaim. In 2015 he recorded the Schumann piano concerto with the WDR Symphonieorchester and Heinz Holliger, and all five Beethoven piano concertos with Concerto Budapest and András Keller.
In 1991, Dénes Várjon graduated from the Franz Liszt Music Academy Budapest, where his professors included Sándor Falvai, György Kurtág and Ferenc Rados. In parallel with his studies, he participated as actively in international master classes imparted by András Schiff.
Dénes Várjon won first prize at the Piano Competition of Hungarian Radio, at the Leó Weiner Chamber Music Competition in Budapest, and at the Géza Anda Competition in Zurich. He is a recipient of the Liszt Prize, the Sándor Veress Prize, and the Bartók-Pásztory Prize. In 2020 he received Hungary’s foremost award in the area of culture, the Kossuth Prize. Mr. Várjon works also for Henle Urtext Editions.

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Composer(s)

Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential of all composers. His best-known compositions include nine symphonies, five piano concertos, one violin concerto, 32 piano sonatas, 16 string quartets, his great Mass the Missa solemnis, and one opera, Fidelio. Together with Mozart and Haydn, he was part of the First Viennese School.    Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of the Holy Roman Empire, Beethoven displayed his musical talents at an early age and was taught by his father Johann van Beethoven and by composer and conductor Christian Gottlob...
more
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential of all composers. His best-known compositions include nine symphonies, five piano concertos, one violin concerto, 32 piano sonatas, 16 string quartets, his great Mass the Missa solemnis, and one opera, Fidelio. Together with Mozart and Haydn, he was part of the First Viennese School. Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of the Holy Roman Empire, Beethoven displayed his musical talents at an early age and was taught by his father Johann van Beethoven and by composer and conductor Christian Gottlob Neefe. At the age of 21 he moved to Vienna, where he began studying composition with Joseph Haydn, and gained a reputation as a virtuoso pianist. He lived in Vienna until his death. By his late 20s his hearing began to deteriorate, and by the last decade of his life he was almost totally deaf. In 1811 he gave up conducting and performing in public but continued to compose; many of his most admired works come from these last 15 years of his life.

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