Bach, J S: Violin Concerto in G minor, BWV1056

Recorded in 1994 this recording of Bach’s violin concertos has lost nothing of its freshness and sparkle. Thomas Zehetmair built, since his Salzburg Festival debut at the age of 16, an impressive international career travelling virtuoso playing with the world’s most famous orchestras conductors. His open and unconventional mind kindled his interest in Historical Early Music Practice, and his interpretations of the baroque repertoire show a deep insight in the style, while never losing his innate musicality and “Spielfreude”.

Zehetmair is joined by the Amsterdam Bach Soloists, an elite group drawn from principals of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, both sharing his interest in early music and his enthusiasm.

The great Johann Sebastian Bach grew up around violin music: his father Johann Ambrosius was an accomplished violinist. This influence is reflected in Sebastian’s compositional output, which contains a large number of solo and ensemble works for the instrument – including the concertos on this recording. The works, written in approximately 1720, are based on Vivaldi’s concerto model from the beginning of the 18th century, and – in the case of the D minor and G minor concertos – are reconstructions of the harpsichord concertos.

Indeed, many of Bach’s concertos for harpsichord were in fact rearrangements of earlier instrumental works, and from the passagework in BWV 1052 and 1056 it is clear that the violin was originally the intended instrument. Together with rich‐sounding dialogue that is a result of the contrast between the intricate solo passages and the slower‐moving accompanying instruments, opportunities for virtuosic display abound in all of the works’ final movements, especially in the energetic Gigue of BWV 1041.

Violinist Thomas Zehetmair studied at the Salzburg Mozarteum and made his festival debut at the Salzburg Festival aged just 16. He has since built up an impressive international career as a soloist, also performing with the Zehetmair Quartet, and is musical director of the Northern Sinfonia (UK) as well as guest conductor of several other major European orchestras. He is joined in the recording by the acclaimed Amsterdam Bach Soloists.

Highlights from Bach's concerto repertoire, presented with a sure sense of style that combines musical quality with the sound of sensuous strings. Performed by a true "dream team" – Itzhak Perlman, Daniel Barenboim and the English Chamber Orchestra –, who are joined for the famous Double Concerto by Perlman's fellow violinist Pinchas Zukerman.

The Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop, founded in 2006, is a young, Berlin-based chamber orchestra on a mission to transform the traditional experience of concert-going. In collaboration with artists from many different fields, the ensemble searches for new forms of presentation and performance, including music theater and "concert installations".

The core of the ensemble is a string orchestra of 15 players that can split up into smaller chamber groups or be joined by guest musicians, depending on the demands of the program. The repertoire, which stretches from the early Baroque to contemporary music, requires all members of the ensemble to perform in chamber music settings as well as solistically

This new recording presents two Violin Concertos and the Double Concerto BMV 1043 by Johann Sebastian Bach. The solo violin part is played by concertmaster Elfa Rún Kristinsdóttir, also a regular guest of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin.

The dynamic ensemble Brecon Baroque was founded in 2007 by violinist Rachel Podger as resident ensemble at her annual Brecon Baroque Festival. The international line-up consists of some of some of the leading lights in the period-instrument world, such as cellist Alison McGillivray, flautist Katie Bircher, oboist Alexandra Bellamy and violist Jane Rogers, as well as some of Rachel's “star” former students who now occupy leading positions in many of Europe's finest ensembles.

Brecon Baroque specializes in the music of J.S.Bach and his contemporaries, often as a one-to-a-part ensemble but also as a small Baroque orchestra. Over the last two years the ensemble has performed several of Bach's Cantatas for solo soprano with Elin Manahan Thomas and will do so again in 2011. Future recording plans include Bach's Art of Fugue and Telemann's great collection Tafelmusik.

'The opportunity to spend three intensive days recording four Bach concertos is an uplifting experience. Each piece encompasses a unique expressive world where discovering the real essence of every movement becomes a kind of obsession! The concertos in A minor and E major are old friends. I’ve grown up with them and I played them a lot when young. The other two, in G minor and A major, were very familiar (as harpsichord concertos or in various transcriptions) – relations I knew reasonably well but not such close friends. It has been a delight to explore these pieces and renew acquaintance, first hand.’ Rachel Podger