Dvořák,Violin Concerto & String Serenade by Antje Weithaas & Camerata Bern

Antje Weithaas & Camerata Bern

Dvořák,Violin Concerto & String Serenade

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: CAvi
UPC: 0028948677955
Catnr: AVI 4867795
Release date: 15 August 2025
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Label
CAvi

UPC
0028948677955

Catalogue number
AVI 4867795

Release date
15 August 2025

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

About the album

DVOŘAK'S EMOTIONAL DEPTH

"Dvořák stated elsewhere that he had always remained a simple Bohemian folk musician at heart. Born in 1841, the son of a butcher, he grew up in the countryside. He always heard Bohemian folk tunes, probably even in his mother’s womb. Folk music was clearly part of Dvořák’s DNA, and a Slavic folklore tone permeates the two works on this CD.

Warm, soft, resonant, melancholic

“It’s mainly because of all the folk dances Dvořák integrates into his works.” For violinist Antje Weithaas, those folk dances are one of the main features of the “Bohemian tone” in Dvořák’s style. The furiant and the dumka are two dances that reappear quite often in his oeuvre; the furiant is from Bohemia, whereas the dumka originated in Ukraine. In Antje Weithaas’s view, Dvořák’s music also reflects the mentality of the Bohemian people. “His music has an unbelievable warmth; there is no aggression.

The Czech language also has a gentle quality to it. Or take, for instance, the sound of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra: a unique remnant that is still preserved. It has that incredible velvety warmth and softness, pulsating at the same time with a special, captivating vibration. In Dvořák’s music, we have the dance-like figures, a generous helping of poetry and melancholy, and these all work together to produce wide-ranging emotional depth.

Dvořák’s only violin concerto and his string serenade are prime examples of the characteristics described by Antje Weithaas, even though the two works highlight two different aspects of his style.

On the one hand, the Violin Concerto in A Minor, op. 53 is a large-scale symphonic tapestry for soloist and orchestra. In contrast, the Serenade in E Minor, op. 22 has a strong chamber music feel to it, although symphonic techniques are by no means absent. Written in 1875 and premiered on December 10th, 1876, the Serenade is among Dvořák’s most beloved, popular works; the violin concerto, from 1879, is much less well-known. It stands in the shadow of the cello concerto, which is far more often performed.

Antje Weithaas finds that secondary rank somewhat unjustified. “It’s a gorgeous piece, but difficult to play. Tricky passages await the soloist right at the beginning. No violinist feels at ease when going onstage to play this concerto! But the musical content is magnificent, and we should all do justice to this work by rising to the challenge...."
(Excerpt from the Booklet notes by Elisabeth Richter: A conversation with Antje Weithaas)

DVOŘAKS EMOTIONALE TIEFE

".......sagte Dvořák, er bleibe immer nur das, was er immer schon gewesen sei, ein einfacher böhmischer Musikant. Tatsächlich ist der 1841 geborene Metzgerssohn auf dem Land aufgewachsen, wo er vermutlich schon im Mutterleib manche böhmische Melodie vernommen hat. Die Volksmusik gehört zweifellos zu Antonín Dvořáks musikalischer DNA. Der folkloristisch böhmisch-slawische Ton durchzieht auch die beiden hier vorgestellten Werke.

Warm, weich, schwingend, melancholisch

„Das sind natürlich vor allem die Volkstänze, die Dvořák in seine Werke integriert.“ Hier sieht die Geigerin Antje Weithaas ein wesentliches Merkmal für den sogenannten „böhmischen Ton“ in Dvořáks Stil. Furiant und Dumka sind zwei Tänze, die in zahlreichen Werken vorkommen, wobei die Dumka ihren Ursprung in der Ukraine hat.

Die Mentalität der Böhmen spiegele sich auch in Dvořáks Musik, meint Antje Weithaas: „Da ist eine unglaubliche Wärme, da gibt es keine Aggressivität. Auch die Sprache hat etwas sehr Weiches. Oder nehmen wir beispielsweise den Klang der Tschechischen Philharmonie, das ist ein Orchesterklang, der sich wirklich als Unikat dort gehalten hat. Er hat diese unglaubliche Wärme und Weichheit und trotzdem immer eine gewisse Form von Schwingung. Dazu kommen ein tänzerischer Gestus, viel Melancholie und Poesie, einfach: Seelenreichtum!“

Dvořáks einziges Violinkonzert und seine Streicherserenade sind durchaus Paradebeispiele für die von Antje Weithaas beschriebenen Charakteristika, auch wenn sie zwei verschiedene Facetten von Dvořáks Komponieren beleuchten. Das Violinkonzert in a-Moll Op. 53 präsentiert ein großes sinfonisches Solokonzert, während die Serenade in E-Dur Op. 22 stark kammermusikalisch ausgerichtet ist, obwohl sinfonische Techniken keinesfalls fehlen. Während die 1875 komponierte und am 10. Dezember 1876 uraufgeführte Serenade zu Dvořáks beliebtesten und bekanntesten Werken zählt, ist das 1879 entstandene Violinkonzert viel weniger populär und steht im Schatten des weit häufiger zu hörenden Cellokonzerts.

Zu Unrecht findet Antje Weithaas: „Es ist ein wunderschönes Stück, aber es ist schwer zu spielen. Gleich zu Beginn gibt es für den Solisten heikle Passagen. Da fühlt sich kein Geiger wohl, wenn er auf die Bühne geht. Aber die Musik, der Inhalt, ist großartig, und wir sollten uns alle dieser Herausforderung stellen.“ Leidenschaftlich, sehr frei, ein wenig improvisatorisch klingen diese kadenzartigen Soli am Anfang. Insgesamt, so die Geigerin, sei das Werk „unangenehm komponiert“ für das Instrument. Und das obwohl Dvořák von Hause aus Streicher war, er spielte Geige und Bratsche.

„Die Geige ist oft sehr präsent, auch mit schwierigen Spieltechniken -Akkordfolgen, Doppelgriffen -, die natürlich nicht schwer klingen sollten.“ (aus dem Booklettext von Elisabeth Richter: Eine Gespräch mit Antje Weithaas)

Artist(s)

Antje Weithaas (conductor)

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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Camerata Bern

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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