Eonidas Kavakos Bach: Violin Concertos (2024)

Moving from the style galant to the Age of Revolutions, this album is an invitation to discover half a century of the cello concerto’s history. A few years after a sensational first volume devoted to C. P. E. Bach, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Riccardo Minasi and Ensemble Resonanz pay tribute to the hypersensitivity of the cello and honour with panache the transcendental virtuosity of the unjustly overlooked Antonín Kraft!

Bach’s cycle of seven concertos for keyboard and orchestra has come down to us in an autograph score which – in view of the loss of most of the other original manuscripts of his music for instrumental ensemble – is one of the most important sources in this area of his output.

Dutch violinist Niek Baar joins the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie under the direction of Christoph Poppen to perform two classic violin concertos from the mid-19th century: Robert Schumann’s Violin Concerto in D minor and Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor. Both of these violin concertos were written for the legendary Joseph Joachim, who had a hand in shaping the final form of both pieces, although ultimately his changes to the Schumann were rejected by the composer. The highly original, introverted and melancholic concerto is a moving self-portrait of the 43-year-old Schumann a few years before his death, and Bruch’s No. 1 is one of the most beloved concertos of the entire repertoire.

Janine Jansen releases her first concerto album in nine years, pairing the iconic Violin Concertos of Sibelius & Prokofiev. Janine is joined by Klaus Mäkelä and the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra for this album, forming the ultimate classical dream team. “The highlight of the program was the Sibelius Violin Concerto, in the hands of the Dutch Janine Jansen… Jansen and Mäkelä recorded this concert together last summer… and it promises to be a true reference, based on what was heard in Oslo.” - Platea