Beethoven / Berg: Violin Concertos

MARBECKS STAFF PICKS 2012

"Abbado's hand-picked ensemble...produces a sound that is thoroughly apt to the particular world of each piece. Faust's timbre and spectrum of emotion are similarly judged and communicated with arresting maturity and sensibility. Likewise, she echoes the freshness and depth that Abbado stimulates in the orchestral playing of the Beethoven concerto, finding a mode of expression that is both lyrical and dynamic and contributing to a performance of real stature." Daily Telegraph

"The Beethoven and Berg Violin Concertos aren't commonly paired on disc. However, in this case it seems like an inspired piece of programme planning, with an account of the Berg that plumbs its depths of melancholy, setting off a radiant, life-affirming performance of the Beethoven...Outstanding performances of both concertos, then; I'll want to return to them often."
(Gramophone Disc of the Month March 2012)

"listening to these wonderful performances side by side is cathartic...The journey is vividly delineated from the outset of the Berg. With Abbado drawing sonorities from his first-rate orchestra, Faust's limpid violin weaves subtly in and out of the music's dark and increasingly sorrowful fabric...The clouds immediately lift for the Beethoven...Faust's first entry is magical."
BBC Music Magazine Awards 2013 Orchestral Finalist

"Most of our customers know of my admiration for the young German violinist Isabelle Faust and the great conductor Claudio Abbado. Here they come together to perform and record two of my favourite violin concertos: the Beethoven and the Berg. This is a stunning disc: an instant staff pick for us." (Keith@Marbecks Classical)