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.

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.

Lars Vogt (1970-2022) early recordings collected here provide a document of an artist who always remained authentic, both to himself and to music. Lars Vogt never sought absolute truth, but truthfulness instead meant all the more to him. The man and the artist were always very close, never currying favour and never detached from the world. He was, instead, open and natural. / "It's incredibly gratifying when you notice that you can perhaps light a little spark, a little flame for music in people, and when music helps you to find the path to your own soul."

Anyone who was fortunate enough to have attended the 2000 Prom where 22-year-old, Georgian-born Elisabeth Batiashvili played Beethoven's Violin Concerto will know what to expect from this new EMI Debut CD. The tone is secure and strong (rather than especially 'big'), the bowing invariably seamless. It's a warm, evenly deployed sound, while the manner of phrasing is uncommonly mature.