Isabelle Faust Beethoven: Violin Concerto

In 2015 the Berliner Philharmoniker dedicated an evening of their renowned Easter Festival in Baden-Baden to one of the most famous and beloved of German composers, Ludwig van Beethoven. Together with Bernard Haitink, a universally acclaimed authority on the works of that composer, they performed Beethoven’s exquisite expression of nature, his Symphony No. 6, the “Pastoral”. They were joined for Beethoven’s Violin Concerto by Isabelle Faust, whose interpretation of the work has enjoyed widespread acclaim.

In this 2006 Beethoven program, Isabelle Faust's tone is subtle and strong, her intonation true, her technique flawless, and her interpretations so sweetly lyrical that the young German violinist sounds like the true heir of the late Belgian violinist Arthur Grumiaux. Partnered with conductor Jirí Belohlávek and the Prague Philharmonia in the concerto and with pianist Alexander Melnikov in the sonata, Faust creates a concerto that is Grecian in its poetic purity and Roman in its pastoral loveliness and a sonata that is Dionysic in its ecstatic outer Prestos and Apollonian in its central Andante.

Claudio Abbado and his hand-picked Orchestra Mozart have become famous for their exceptional recordings of music by their namesake, but to assume every work in their repertoire has a Koechel number attached to it would be a mistake. For this 2012 release, it demonstrates a great aptitude for the violin concertos of Ludwig van Beethoven and Alban Berg, and the playing is every bit as convincing as the treatment of Mozart's oeuvre.

Isabelle Faust hit the Classical charts earlier this year with her mesmerising recording of Beethoven and Berg with Claudio Abbado. She followed up with some welcome live appearances here in the UK, which included the Brahms' concerto at the Barbican with frequent collaborators Jiri Belohlavek and the BBCSO.

After a successful trilogy devoted to the concertos and trios of Schumann, Freiburger Barockorchester and Pablo Heras-Casado could not ignore one of Beethoven's most unusual works: the Triple Concerto. Alongside Isabelle Faust, Jean-Guihen Queyras and Alexander Melnikov, they bring this score to life as only true chamber musicians can, revealing it's subtlest colors and balances. The trio transcription of the Second Symphony, which was supervised by the composer himself, judiciously completes this exploration of lesser-known Beethoven, in which intimacy mingles with grandeur.

More than 200 years after its premiere at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Isabelle Faust, Jean-Guihen Queyras and Martin Helmchen have congenially mastered the artistic challenge of Beethoven’s gemstone. Under Herbert Blomstedt’s sensitive direction, the soloists unite chamber musical intimacy together with virtuoso sophistication – and prove once again that the Triple Concerto is an unduly underestimated, much too rarely programmed masterpiece.

It was a deeply affecting and appropriate farewell. The spirit of Claudio Abbado, the great conductor and founder of orchestras who died in January 2014, was present in music, words, and silence. Thousands upon thousands came to the Basilica di Santo Stefano in Bologna and the Piazza della Scala in Milan to pay their last respects. In Lucerne, the members of the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA paid tribute to this extraordinary man and friend with a deeply moving concert – “The emotional intensity was unbelievable; this could only be achieved by true musicians, by those capable of love.” (Neue Zürcher Zeitung) Friends and associates look back fondly on Claudio Abbado and speak of how they experienced these moments of grief and farewell.