Bach & Ysaÿe Vol. 2 Antje Weithaas

• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): Sonata No. 2 in A minor for solo violin BWV 1003 (1720):
• 1Bach: Violin Sonata No. 2 in A Minor, BWV 1003: 1. Grave04:18
• 2Bach: Violin Sonata No. 2 in A Minor, BWV 1003: 2. Fuga08:25
• 3Bach: Violin Sonata No. 2 in A Minor, BWV 1003: 3. Andante05:40
• 4Bach: Violin Sonata No. 2 in A Minor, BWV 1003: 4. Allegro05:53
• Eugène Ysaÿe (1858-1931): Sonata in D Minor No. 3, Op. 27:
• 5Ysaÿe: Violin Sonata No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 27 No. 3 "Georges Enesco"07:52
• 6Ysaÿe: Violin Sonata No. 5 in G Major, Op. 27 No. 5: I. L'aurore. Lento assai05:16
• 7Ysaÿe: Violin Sonata No. 5 in G Major, Op. 27 No. 5: II. Danse rustique05:56
• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): Partita No. 3 for solo violin BWV 1006 (1720):
• 8Bach: Violin Partita No. 3 in E Major, BWV 1006: I. Preludio04:03
• 9Bach: Violin Partita No. 3 in E Major, BWV 1006: II. Loure04:27
• 10Bach: Violin Partita No. 3 in E Major, BWV 1006: III. Gavotte en Rondeau03:00
• 11Bach: Violin Partita No. 3 in E Major, BWV 1006: IV. Menuet I - V. Menuet II04:36
• 12Bach: Violin Partita No. 3 in E Major, BWV 1006: VI. Bourrée01:24
• 13Bach: Violin Partita No. 3 in E Major, BWV 1006: VII. Gigue02:08
• Total Runtime01:02:58

Info for Bach & Ysaÿe Vol. 2

Youthful experiments vs. mature wisdom Vol. 2. Vol. 2 of Antje Weithaas‘ Trilogy with works of the two cycles. It was Antje Weithaas’s own idea to jointly record Johann Sebastian Bach’s six sonatas and partitas for solo violin in conjunction with Eugène Ysaye’s six solo violin sonatas. “The works by Bach are rather well-known”, she remarks. “But what about the Ysaye sonatas? Ysaye is invariably shoved into the virtuoso corner, but as a composer he is to be taken quite seriously!” - Now the No. 2: On the second CD in her Bach-Ysaye-trilogy, Antje Weithaas follows a path from darkness to light.

J. S. Bach‘s Sonata in A Minor resembles a sacred passion without words; Ysaye’s dramatic Third Sonata is entitled Ballade, and the first movement of Ysaye’s Fifth Sonata evokes a sunrise (L’aurore ). The CD closes with Bach’s Partita in E Major! “This work is the simplest one in the entire cycle of sonatas and partitas. I don’t mean ‘simple’ as ‘easy to play’, but in terms of its musical statement: here, Bach chooses the majestic, positive key of E Major.”

„ ….Nevertheless it is particularly exciting and refreshing to hear Weithaas in true isolation with her beautiful and varied tone (on her modern Greiner violin which she plays with extraordinary skill of compensation, exspecially when maintaining the heavy poise of the Chaconne) and absolutely meticulous technique. Most of all, you can hear her complex thinking clearly evidenced in the light but ever-present dance lilt in all Bach’s movements, despite their musical and intellectual gravities. …..“ (The Gramophone)

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 Bach & Ysaÿe Vol. 2