account
basket
Challenge Records Int. logo
Beethoven, Violin Sonatas Nos 3, 7 & 8
Ludwig van Beethoven

Antje Weithaas | Dénes Várjon

Beethoven, Violin Sonatas Nos 3, 7 & 8

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: CAvi
UPC: 4260085535354
Catnr: AVI 8553535
Release date: 17 November 2023
Buy
1 CD
✓ in stock
€ 19.95
Buy
 
Label
CAvi
UPC
4260085535354
Catalogue number
AVI 8553535
Release date
17 November 2023
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
EN
DE

About the album

The middle three…

“…..Weithaas and Várjon have a great deal to say and are not afraid to say it, but their focus
of interest is always and emphatically Beethoven – not themselves.” (MusicWeb Intern’l July 23)

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 and precision, combined with a large portion of musicality.

“In Antje Weithaas’s und Dénes Várjon’s complete edition of these sonatas in three volumes, each individual release is designed to illustrate those stages of artistic development (instead of featuring the works in strict chronological order). From the onset, Beethoven ascribed utter importance to the principle of dialogue between the two instruments, as we can infer from a letter he wrote to Artaria on 19 June 1793…..

The current Vol. 2 release contrasts the third sonata (in E Flat Major) of the early Op. 12 group with the second and third sonatas of Op. 30. The CD begins with the C Minor Sonata Op. 30, which is undoubtedly one of the two most dramatic sonatas among all ten works in the same genre (the other one being the “Kreutzer” Sonata Op. 47).

The E Flat Major sonata is also the most dramatic one within Op. 12. On the other hand, the last sonata (G Major) in Op. 30 provides a contrast in the form of a cheerful “final dance” (Kehraus), a function it also fulfils on this CD in the wake of the E Flat Major Sonata Op. 12. “ (Excerpt from the booklet notes by Elisabeth Richter
Die mittleren Drei…

...Weithaas and Várjon haben eine Menge zu sagen und sie fürchten sich auch nicht, es sehr detlich zu machen. Ihr Fokus liegt aber immer auf Beethovens Werk – nicht auf ihrem Spiel. (MusicWeb Intern’l July 23)

Beide sind äußerst gefragt als überragende Kammermusiker weltweit: Antje Weithaas and Dénes Várjon kombinieren jeder auf seine Weise den höchsten Enthusiasmus und Präzision. Ihr energiereiches und leidenschaftliches Spiel ist das Resultat einer starken Konzentration, Werktreue und der richtigen Interpretation von Beethoven Noten, und ihrer beiden Musikalität.

“Alle drei Volumina der Gesamteinspielung mit Antje Weithaas und Dénes Várjon verdeutlichen die beschriebenen Entwicklungsstufen. Sie folgen nicht der Chronologie der Entstehung. Wie sehr Beethoven aber das dialogische Prinzip von Anfang an am Herzen lag, beweist eine Äußerung aus einem Brief vom 19. Juni 1793 an den Verlag Artaria...

Das hier vorliegende Volume II stellt die dritte (Es-Dur-) Sonate der frühen Werkgruppe Op. 12 der zweiten (c-Moll-) und der dritten (G-Dur-) Sonate der Werkgruppe Op. 30 gegenüber. Es beginnt mit der Sonate c-Moll Op. 30, sie ist mit der Kreutzer-Sonate Op. 47 sicher die dramatischste der zehn Beethoven-Violinsonaten.

Die Sonate Es-Dur ist innerhalb der Werkgruppe Op. 12 das dramatischste Werk. Die letzte Sonate G-Dur der Werkgruppe Op. 30 hat die Funktion eines heiteren „Kehraus“ als Kontrast. Sie hat auch auf diesem Album - nach der Es-Dur-Sonate Op. 12 - diese Funktion. “
(Excerpt from the booklet notes by Elisabeth Richter)

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...
more

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.


less

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.

less

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.

less

Press

Play album Play album

You might also like..

Antonin Dvořák
Dvořák,Violin Concerto & String Serenade
Antje Weithaas & Camerata Bern
Ludwig van Beethoven
Beethoven, Violin Sonatas Nos 1, 5, 6 & 10
Antje Weithaas | Dénes Várjon
Robert Schumann, Jörg Widmann
Es war einmal… (Once Upon a Time…) - Märchenerzählungen | Fairy Tales by Robert Schumann & Jörg Widmann
Tabea Zimmermann, Jörg Widmann, Dénes Várjon
Ludwig van Beethoven
Beethoven, Violin Sonatas Nos 2, 4 & 9 Kreutzer
Antje Weithaas | Dénes Várjon
Zoltán Kodály
Kodály
Julian Steckel
Josef Suk
Piano Trio & Piano Quartet
Various Artists
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Violin Concerto & String quartet No. 3
Antje Weithaas | Camerata Bern
Johann Sebastian Bach
Bach & Ysaÿe Vol. 3
Antje Weithaas