Christian Tetzlaff / Lars Vogt BEETHOVEN Sonatas Op. 30

 

SONATAS OP. 30

 

Julian Prégardien / Martin Helmchen / Christian Tetzlaff / Florian Donderer / Rachel Roberts / Tanja Tetzlaff / Marie-Elisabeth Hecker SCHUBERT Schwanengesang - String Quintet

 

SCHWANENGESANG - STRING QUINTET

Tetzlaff Quartett BEETHOVEN String Quartets Opp. 132 & 130/133

                                            STRING QUARTETS Opp. 132 & 130/133

Christian Tetzlaff / Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin / Robin Ticciati BEETHOVEN - SIBELIUS Violin Concertos

What we have here is by my calculations Christian Tetzlaff’s third recording of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, the first two under Michael Gielen and David Zinman respectively. Having reviewed the latter in these pages back in June 2006, I noted then that ‘the main stumbling-block on so many rival recordings of this work is a sort of romantic reverence, a trend challenged by Zehetmair, Kremer and others. For all its many moments of profound repose, Beethoven’s Violin Concerto is a forthright, heroic piece, with boldly militaristic first movement tutti and a rollicking finale which Tetzlaff invests with numerous added colours. Following on the heels of Zehetmair, Kremer and Schneiderhan, [he] performs the violin version of the cadenza that Beethoven wrote for his piano transcription of the work, a playful excursion and a snug fit for his overall interpretation.’ This choice of cadenza has apparently been Tetzlaff’s preferred option from the age of 15.

Little has changed during the intervening years, at least in principle. Listening to Tetzlaff flying side-saddle through the Concerto last November (when this superbly engineered recording was made at Berlin’s Philharmonie), often with the utmost agility, reminded me that at the work’s premiere the composer’s violinist colleague Franz Clement – who was sight-reading Beethoven’s hastily finished solo part – is said, by some, ‘to have interrupted the concerto between the first and second movements with a solo composition of his own, played on one string of the violin held upside down’. Now do hear me out on this point. Tetzlaff may at times excitedly rushes his fences, but in collaboration with Robin Ticciati and his alert Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, he transforms aspects of what so many have treated as a sort of Holy Grail (ie loftily reverential) into a beer tankard, the sense of unhinged inebriation gaining most froth in the outer movements’ playful cadenzas, which run wild in the first movement and ratchet up extra excitement for the finale. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever heard a more excitable account of that closing Rondo. Here, as Tetzlaff himself says in a fascinating booklet interview, ‘the seriousness or solemnity sometimes surrounding the work is [also] completely suspended’. Of course, viewed as a whole the Concerto still emerges as the mighty edifice that it is, but it’s good to have a dose of typically Beethovenian rough-and-tumble thrown in as ballast.

The first movement’s serene central section (played in tempo) allows for a welcome spot of repose and elsewhere Tetzlaff’s sweet, delicately spun tone contrasts with, or should I say complements, Ticciati’s assertive, occasionally bullish accompaniment. The Larghetto is beautifully done, its effect underlined through the sheer energy and character of the outer movements. There’s never any doubt that what you’re listening to is a real concerto, a battle of wills, more in line with Zehetmair and Brüggen (who use Wolfgang Schneiderhan’s cadenza with timpani) or Kremer and Harnoncourt (a cadenza incorporating piano) than with the likes of Perlman, Zukerman or Kennedy. Who knows: maybe this is roughly what Beethoven originally had in mind? It’s possible, even probable. One thing’s for sure: never before has this indelible masterpiece sounded more like a profound precursor of Paganini.

If Beethoven’s Concerto emerges as uncompromisingly provocative, Tetzlaff’s Sibelius also errs on the side of danger. As risk-taking performances go, this one will have you clinging to the sides of your seat. Comparing it with his Virgin recording with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra under Thomas Dausgaard is especially instructive: in the finale’s opening, the ever-attentive Ticciati follows Sibelius’s wishes by cueing a gradual diminuendo before Tetzlaff enters, whereas Dausgaard carries on pounding at full throttle. Then again, in the passage leading to the second subject (from around 0'44"), under Ticciati Tetzlaff sounds as if he’s clinging on for dear life. Sibelius throws down the gauntlet by requesting a very fast tempo and Tetzlaff rises to the challenge. I shan’t pretend that the effect is entirely comfortable (the Dausgaard option sounds marginally safer) but it’s undeniably exciting. The Concerto’s opening is candidly emotional, with imaginatively deployed varieties of attack (a Tetzlaff speciality) and Ticciati again engaging his soloist with the utmost intensity, lunging fearlessly at Sibelius’s dynamic writing, whether the deafening growl at 7'07" or the movement’s fiercely driven close. As with the Beethoven, Tetzlaff is at his lyrical best in the Adagio. Both performances sidestep interpretative convention without either offending or displacing their finest rivals. In many respects, a real knock-out. (Rob Cowan / Gramophone)

Christian Tetzlaff / Daniel Harding / Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra JÖRG WIDMANN Violin Concerto - Insel der Sirenen - Antiphon

For this 2013 release from Ondine, violinist Christian Tetzlaff, conductor Daniel Harding, and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra present three exciting works by Jörg Widmann, a German composer who possesses an impressive talent for orchestration. The Violin Concerto is the most imposing piece on the program, at nearly a half hour in duration and of an exceptionally wide range of techniques and sonorities, and it serves as a powerfully expressive vehicle for Tetzlaff. Long lines predominate, and the tonal inflections of the chromatic writing make it quite accessible to listeners who don't normally listen to contemporary works. Antiphon is a vivid display of the orchestra's sections in call and response, and the interplay of these groups is transparent to the attentive listener and fascinating on repeated listening. The closing work, Insel der Sirenen (Island of the Sirens), was inspired by Homer's Odyssey, and Tetzlaff's violin is pitted against 19 strings, often grouped in cluster formations, in an extraordinary competition of sounds. Because Widmann's music is uncompromising and decidedly adventurous, audiences may find it a bit challenging, though the coherence of his compositions and the freshness of his orchestral colors go a long way toward making this music appealing. (Blair Sanderson)

Christian Tetzlaff / Tanja Tetzlaff / Lars Vogt ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK Piano Trios Nos. 3 & 4, "Dumky"

This fruitful collaboration by three eminent chamber musicians, Christian Tetzlaff, Tanja Tetzlaff and Lars Vogt, brings together two Piano Trios by the Czech master, Antonín Dvorák (1841–1904). During the last eight years, artists forming this unique trio have recorded eight albums of chamber music for Ondine with great acclaim, including some of the Romantic standard works. These two chamber music masterpieces by Antonín Dvorák express great emotional depth and dark passion. The two piano trios by Dvorak featured in this album have remarkable similarities as well as differences. Piano Trio No. 3, nearly symphonic in its character, hints to the world of Johannes Brahms, while the Piano Trio No. 4 includes folkloric elements. The third piano trio might not only be considered as an homage to Brahms; it was written by the composer in 1883 shortly after the death of his mother which might well explain the sorrowful musical expression in the slow movement of the work. The ‘Dumky’ trio has a very unusual structure in its six movements. This intense and intimate work was written just prior to the composer’s departure to New York in 1891 and serves as a great climax for Dvorak’s series of piano trios.

Tetzlaff / Hornung / Dörken / Weithaas / Powell / Helmchen DVORÄK Trio SUK Quartet

Antje Weithaas and friends perform Dvorak's Piano Trio in G minor, Op.26 and Suk's Quartet, Op.1 in live recordings from the Spannungen festival, 2017.

In 1876, Dvorak composed the Trio in G Minor, op. 26 in a mere 16 days. Certain traits in this trio already seem to reveal Dvorak's profound affinity with Brahms on an instinctive level. Gradually emerging from a series of brief motifs, the first movement's main theme is subjected to thematic treatment throughout. This movement is also the longest, lasting a total of twelve minutes. It's sombre mood does not yet reflect the true personal style of he who would soon write the Slavonic Dances. Notwithstanding, certain cello cantilenas in the slow movement and towards the end of the sombre, violent scherzo offer a foretaste of the great melodic gifts that Dvorak would soon reveal to the world. 

The composition Suk submitted for the final exam is none other than the Piano Quartet in A Minor, op. 1. The first movement's disarming impetuousness engulfs the listener like a shock wave, betraying not only the influence of Brahms, the true doyen of Late Romantic chamber music, but also that of Dvorak, his own teacher. More significantly, however, a personal style already becomes noticeable in this work. The energetic introductory movement is followed by a clear contrast: a muted, nocturne-like, melodically intense Adagio that sets in with a warm cello cantilena. The second movement's expressive middle section exudes a fairy-tale-like atmosphere, similar to the one in the incidental music that Suk would later compose for the play Raduz and Mahulena. The final movement begins with a march-like main theme that is alternated with contrasting episodes, thus giving the general structural impression of a rondo. (Pedro Obiera) 

Christian Tetzlaff / Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra / Hannu Lintu BARTÓK Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2

Star violinist Christian Tetzlaff performs Béla Bartók’s (1881–1945) two masterpieces in a new recording with Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hannu Lintu. This recording continues both artists’ highly successful series of recordings on Ondine.

‘The two violin concertos of Béla Bartók (1881–1945), completed thirty years apart in 1908 and 1938 respectively, celebrated relationships with two Hungarian violinists: the first romantic, with Stefi Geyer and the second artistic, with Zoltán Székely. Bartók’s 1^st Violin Concerto was published posthumously after the composer’s death in 1956, but Bartók reused the opening movement as the first of his Two Portraits for orchestra. He remarked in a letter written in late 1907 or early 1908 that ‘I have never written such direct music before’. Bartók completed two movements that portray the character of Stefi Geyer to whom the work was written to. Completed towards the end of 1938, Bartók’s three-movement 2^nd Violin Concerto was a much more substantial concerto than his first essay in the medium and it was dedicated ‘to my dear friend Zoltán Székely’. Székely’s name can also be found in the of his Second Rhapsody. Bartók adopted a rather unusual approach to the overall form of the Second Violin Concerto and the impact of both rural folk music and urban verbunkos on his language can be found in the Second Violin Concerto.

Martin Helmchen FRANZ SCHUBERT Forellen Quintet

With hundreds of recorded performances of Schubert's "Trout" Quintet available, what is it that distinguished this 2009 PentaTone disc from the rest? Partially the playing, partially the couplings, and partially the sound. Played by pianist Martin Helmchen, violinist Christian Tetzlaff, violist Antoine Tamestit, cellist Marie Elisabeth Hecker, and double bassist Alois Posch, this "Trout" is light, lively, and lyrical, with a singing tone, a smiling interpretation, and a vivacious feeling for rhythm. The players are first-rate by themselves and outstanding as an ensemble, with a tight but relaxed grasp of form and an intuitive sense of tempo. The couplings here are rather unusual: the Variations on Trockne Blumen for flute and piano and the Notturno for piano trio, the former receiving a polished and appealing account by pianist Helmchen with wooden flutist Aldo Baerten and the latter getting a broadly paced but beautifully sculpted reading by Helmchen, Tetzlaff, and Hecker. And the super audio sound by the Dutch PentaTone label is so realistic one cannot only hear Baerten breathe, one can almost smell the wood of his flute. Longtime listeners may already have their favorite recordings of the "Trout" Quintet, but by virtue of the playing, the couplings, and the sound, this one deserves to be at least sampled. (James Leonard)

Lars Vogt / Christian Tetzlaff / Tanja Tetzlaff / Royal Northern Sinfonia BEETHOVEN Triple Concerto - Piano Concerto No. 3

Lars Vogt continues his cycle of Beethovens Piano Concertos with the Royal Northern Sinfonia. On this second volume, the recording also includes Beethovens Triple Concerto where Lars Vogt is joined together with his longtime artistic partners Christian Tetzlaff and Tanja Tetzlaff. Vogts recordings of chamber music with the trio have gathered astonishing reviews and recording awards, including a Grammy nomination for the recording of Brahms Piano Trios (ODE 1271-2D). Beethovens Triple Concerto for Piano, Violin, and Cello in C major, Op. 56 is a work radiant with joy, described by many as a concerto for piano trio and orchestra. The work, completed in 1803, has standed unrivaled in its genre. Beethovens Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37 is a slightly earlier work and it was premiered together with his Symphony No. 2 in a concert in 1804. It has been noted that the theme in the first movement of the concerto is possibly a quotation from Mozarts Piano Concerto No. 24 written in the same key, and the both works do ressemble each other in formal, rhythmic, and thematic aspects. C minor key is also a key in which Beethoven wrote many of his most important works, including the 5th Symphony, the Pathétique Sonata and Piano Sonata, Op. 111. Lars Vogt was appointed the first ever 'Pianist in Residence' by the Berlin Philharmonic in 2003/04 and enjoys a high profile as a soloist and chamber musician. His debut solo recording on Ondine with Bachs Goldberg Variations (ODE 1273-2) was released in August 2015 and has been a major critical success. The albums tracks have also been streamed online over 6 million times. Lars Vogt started his tenure as Music Director of the Royal Northern Sinfonia in September 2015. In June 2017 Lars Vogt was nominated for Gramophone's Artist of the Year 2017 Award.

Christian Tetzlaff J.S. BACH Sonatas & Partitas

Award-winning violinist Christian Tetzlaff continues his highly successful series of chamber music recordings on Ondine with a new recording of Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin (BWV1001–1006) by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). 

Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas have an iconic status in the violin repertoire. Yet, little is known about the background of these fascinating works. Bach’s autograph manuscriptis dated in Köthen in 1720, and it is commonly considered as the year when the cycle was completed. In his booklet notes Christian Tetzlaff offers fascinating perspectives to these masterpieces. 

Christian Tetzlaff is considered one of the world’s leading international violinists and maintains a most extensive performing schedule. Musical America named him ‘Instrumentalist of the Year’ in 2005 and his recording of the violin concertos by Mendelssohn and Schumann, released on Ondine in 2011 (ODE 1195-2), received the ‘Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik’. He has recently been awarded an ECHO as ’Best Instrumentalist’ for his recording of Brahms Sonatas with Lars Vogt. In addition, in 2015 ICMA awarded Christian Tetzlaff as the ‘Artist of the Year’. His recordings on Ondine with Brahms’ Trios (ODE 1271-2D) and Violin Concertos by Dvorák and Suk (1279-5) released. (ONDINE)

Christian Tetzlaff / Lars Vogt BRAHMS The Violin Sonatas

Christian Tetzlaff and Lars Vogt first recorded the three Brahms violin sonatas for EMI at the 2002 ‘Spannungen’ chamber music festival in Heimbach, Germany – spirited, occasionally restless performances that thrillingly capture the adrenalin rush of a live concert. This new studio account from Ondine preserves much of the ‘incisiveness, urgency and lightness of touch’ that Edward Greenfield justly praised in his review of that EMI disc, along with a breathtaking balance of poise and daring.

As in their live recording, Tetzlaff and Vogt favour flowing tempi, yet there’s an even greater sense of spontaneity and elasticity here than before – as the opening movement of Op 78 illustrates so beautifully. Although it’s marked Vivace ma non troppo, the players start out serenely; indeed, there’s little if any sense of vivace at all. Rather, one becomes aware of a growing ebullience. It’s signalled subtly at the beginning, as liquid streams of quavers gather into a gentle cascade, and reaches fruition only in the coda, which surges exultantly. In between, though, there’s an ebb and flow, a multiplicity of swirling currents that are somehow contained as an uninterrupted, unified body. Listen at around 2'58", where the instruments trade searching, syncopated melody and breathless accompaniment. Tetzlaff and Vogt imbue this intertwining dance with tender intimacy, and the resulting feeling of anticipation is exquisite.

In numerous passages throughout the programme, in fact, the players find ways to hold even the most expansive melodies or phrases taut (but not rigidly so) and thereby create enormous tension. There’s a section near the end of the Adagio of Op 78 (at 5'17") where – after some intricate figuration – the texture suddenly becomes drastically simplified to something like a distantly remembered, decelerated march. Vogt doesn’t stiffen up here and grip the dotted rhythms, as György Sebők does, say, in his classic Philips recording with Arthur Grumiaux, but instead seems to feel his way forwards, step by step. Sebők’s approach dissipates the emotional pressure, Vogt’s heightens it. And when, over this slow-moving procession, Tetzlaff entreats with a warm, beacon-like song, the effect is mesmeric.

Vogt can be almost reticent at times. His soft playing is very soft, although its presence is felt even at its quietest, perhaps because his touch is so varied and articulate. In the finale of Op 78, note how he distinguishes between the delicate pitter-patter of the right hand’s semiquavers and the left’s pizzicato-like interjections. Tetzlaff, for his part, employs a similarly diverse tonal arsenal. That glorious E flat major melody (at 3'50") is rendered with a silky legato, the double-stops amplifying the effect through texture, not volume, as if a single tone could not contain such emotion. And then at the movement’s end – first at 6'40", with its ravishing dolcissimo playing, and then at 7'29", where Tetzlaff reduces his sound to a confessional whisper – every phrase is intensely, memorably expressive.

On the live EMI recording, Tetzlaff’s sound was wiry and slightly edgy. Here, in Bremen’s Sendesaal, Ondine’s engineers do him full justice. He does not have a big, fat, voluptuous sound; it’s on the lean side, yet focused, gleaming, and capable of a completely un-saccharine sweetness. Notable, too, is his eloquent use of portamento – in the Allegro amabile of Op 100, where he moulds the first theme so elegantly (0'34"), and then, more impressively still, in the Adagio of Op 108, which is so heartfelt and noble.

Tetzlaff and Vogt take obvious pleasure in details without losing sight of the larger picture, whether it’s a phrase, a movement or an entire work. Indeed, they sharply delineate the individual character of each sonata. Opp 78 and 100 are both overwhelmingly sunny and lyrical, yet there’s greater vulnerability in the former and more confident ardour in the latter. Op 108, on the other hand, is anxiety-ridden and turbulent – and this interpretation aptly broods and frets, seethes and squalls. Even the eerie molto legato passage that introduces the first movement’s development (at 2'16") harbours a deep disquiet. The finale is explosive, rhythms bristling, dynamic contrasts starkly illuminated, and with an unrelenting dramatic thrust.

Similarly, in the propulsive, Hoffmann-esque Scherzo Brahms composed for the collaborative FAE Sonata (along with Schumann and Albert Dietrich), Tetzlaff and Vogt go for broke. Tetzlaff makes his violin spit and whine like a fiddler possessed, while Vogt stabs at the jagged syncopations with gusto. It’s an exhilarating encore to a superbly satisfying disc. No matter that the catalogue is crammed with recordings of these sonatas; this one will sit proudly on my shelf alongside Szeryng/Rubinstein, Mullova/Anderszewski and Dumay/Pires. (Andrew Farach-Colton / Gramophone)

THORSTEN ENCKE A Portrait

A Portrait of the composer  Thorsten Encke „When you embark on an artistic project, structural considerations can serve as a spark of inspiration. Like an architect, you roll out a blueprint, jot down a series of notes, and establish a basic framework of interval relations. Then you thoughtfully furnish the interior by relating motifs to one another and assigning them dramatic roles within the musical narrative. All of this is certainly necessary. But then, new ideas take you on detours, unplanned inspiration imposes itself on your thoughts, and the structural spark of inspiration dwindles with each new effort. The work acquires a life of its own; it wants to grow beyond its former limits. As an artist, you have to surrender and try to sense where the journey leads you.
A wrestling match often arises between what was planned and what is possible: the delicate task of choosing the most promising path that branches off into the scrub. One needs to remain open to new possibilities while becoming confident in the consistency of one’s ideas. That is what inspiration is all about. One should always attempt to achieve a balance between formal construction and sheer inventiveness. Invention should take precedence over structure; in the best of cases, the latter remains under the surface as a kind of firm inner cohesion.
Invention is what shines in a work; it is what astounds the listener. On the other hand, an overtly visible structure is nothing more than a skeleton, placed in evidence to satisfy our anatomical curiosity. “Music is life; it is movement, rhythm, and Gestalt.” That is what a female audience member once said to me after a concert, and I agree. The listener has the right to expect such things from a musical work: movement, rhythm, and, most of all, Gestalt, e.g., a form one can grasp. The Gestalt confronts the listener and offers itself as a partner in dialogue. The listener decides whether she wants to enter into that dialogue; she decides how she perceives the Gestalt, and whether she will let herself be moved. If the listener is willing to actively participate in that process, she is creating the work herself. Only the Gestalt offers us an inkling of the great fabric of life, a shimmering reflection of eternity. Whenever music inspires a listener in this way, it manages to fulfill its most noble purpose.
As a composer, I spend many hours alone at my desk, painstakingly fleshing out my ideas. The written score reduces the vast array of sonorities I had previously imagined. It obliges me to formulate a clear vision, without blurring the contours. The score’s limitations force us to become inventive. The problem of notation in itself is what ultimately leads us to express ourselves in new ways. What is my current personal motto? This, perhaps: to retain a love of experiment in terms of content and expression; to remain clear in my musical language.

Tetzlaff Quartett SCHUBERT String Quartet No. 15 HAYDN String Quartet Op. 20 No. 3

There is no better way to experience intimacy in music than through the magic of string quartets. I experienced this myself as an amateur violinist many years ago when I organized a trio, and later when I was invited to participate in performing quartets.

In this new recording the prestigious Tetzlaff Quartett (Christian Tetzlaff, Elisabeth Kufferath, Hanna Weinmeister and Tanja Tetzlaff) present a program of String Quartets by Franz Schubert and Joseph Haydn in exemplary performances.

Praised by The New York Times for its “dramatic, energetic playing of clean intensity”, the Tetzlaff Quartett is one of today’s leading string quartets. Alongside their successful individual careers, Christian and Tanja Tetzlaff, Hanna Weinmeister and Elisabeth Kufferath have met since 1994 to perform several times each season in concerts that regularly receive great critical acclaim.

Christian Tetzlaff / Tanja Tetzlaff / Lars Vogt BRAHMS The Piano Trios

Award-winning violinist Christian Tetzlaff and pianist Lars Vogt are joined together with Tanja Tetzlaff in this exciting new recording of the Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) Piano Trios.

The Brahms Piano Trios belong to the very core of the romantic chamber music repertoire. They span a period from the 1850s (the 1st version of Op. 8) to the 1880s, Op. 101 being completed during the last decade of Brahms' active career as a composer. Piano Trio No. 1 was also revised by the composer as late as in 1889.

Christian Tetzlaff has been considered as one of the world's leading international violinists for many years, and still maintains a most extensive performing schedule. Musical America named him "Instrumentalist of the Year" in 2005 and his recording of the violin concertos by Mendelssohn and Schumann, released on Ondine in 2011, received the "Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik". Gramophone Magazine chose his recording of the Schumann Violin Sonatas with Lars Vogtas "Disc of the Month" in January 2014. In addition, in 2015 ICMA awarded Christian Tetzlaff as the "Artist of the Year".

Chamber music plays a significant part in Tanja Tetzlaff's career. She gives regular recitals in renowned concert series and festivals. In addition to successes in many international competitions, she has collaborated with world-renowed orchestras and conductors.

Lars Vogt was appointed the first ever "Pianist in Residence" by the Berlin Philharmonic in 2003/04 and enjoys a high profile as a soloist and chamber musician. (Ondine)

Tetzlaff Quartett MENDELSSOHN Quartet Op. 13 BERG Lyric Suite

The Tetzlaff Quartet is unusual in consisting of four busy soloists who get together only intermittently. The upside is that what they do has the tension and imagination of four big personalities, and that certainly pays off here.

Their combined sound is highly refined and honed, resulting in a tautness of approach that gives Mendelssohn’s A minor Quartet real potency and drive. Even in the most driven passages, textures always have a sparkling clarity. Just dip into the first movement (beginning at 2'30"), where viola player Hanna Weinmeister takes over the melody with eloquence. The Elias are more refulgent in tone, generally more open-hearted in the touching Adagio non lento, but the Tetzlaff’s greater austerity is also very moving. And their finale is particularly searing, bringing out the contrast between the melodramatic tremolos and the leader’s impassioned recitatives, the light-as-air passages of the upper three players and the pungent pizzicatos of the cellist. The Elias are equally zesty but with a wilder edge here, as if chaos is a hair’s breadth away. Both, in their different ways, are riveting.

The Berg makes a compelling if unusual coupling and the Tetzlaff reveal its extraordinary beauties. They are alive to every nuance, every emotional change of this highly charged music, yet never lose sight of the music’s architecture. Just sample the way they move from an otherworldly quiet to the most impassioned playing (tr 6, from 2'37") with a sense of inevitability and they convey the mournful desperation of the finale more potently than the Cecilia Quartet. I’d rate this new reading of the Lyric Suite alongside that treasurable performance of the Tetzlaff/Uchida/Boulez Chamber Concerto (Decca, 12/08). (Harriet Smith / Gramophone)

Christian Tetzlaff J.S. BACH Sonatas & Partitas for Violin solo BWV 1001-1006

Christian Tetzlaff recorded the Bach sonatas and partitas for solo violin in 1994, for Virgin Classics, a performance that has been repackaged in a terrific four-disc budget set along with Ralph Kirshbaum's readings of the unaccompanied suites for solo cello. This new recording by Tetzlaff, made in 2005, doesn't differ in its fundamentals from the earlier set. His interpretations still have the unusual combination of brisk, Romantic, and detailed. Tetzlaff plays with very little vibrato, but he often pushes the tempo beyond the confines of the dance rhythms contained in the music; the feel of his playing is sharp rather than graceful. The most expressive aspect of his playing comes not in the tone quality of the violin but in the dynamic contrasts he inserts into the music -- and these are, if anything, intensified in this version as compared with the earlier one. Tetzlaff may be a little chilly for some listeners, but he is among the few violinists who does not seem to be trying to scale the heights of these works -- the notes obey him, rather than forcing him to obey them. In the big Chaconne that ends the Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004 (CD 2, track 5), he is at his best with a constantly lively reading that slashes through polyphonic passages, springs lightly off of double and triple stops, and fades away to near silence without ever letting things get out of hand. Some might quibble whether Tetzlaff returned "too soon" to these massive challenges of the violin repertory, but the overall effect of these recordings is different from that of the earlier ones -- partly because of the very live acoustics of the Norwegian church where the new recording was made. The new recording is sharper and a bit more dramatic, but both approach the Bachian sublime. (James Manheim)

Boulez / Tetzlaff / Uchida / Ensemble InterContemporain MOZART 13 BERG

As far as can be determined by perusing the international catalogs, this 2008 Decca disc contains post-modernist composer/conductor Pierre Boulez's first recording of a work by high classical composer/performer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Boulez's choice of repertoire is unusual to say the least: neither a symphony nor a piano concerto, but rather a serenade, to be specific, the Gran Partita for 13 wind instruments. One could understand a symphony, possibly the contrapuntal 41st, or a piano concerto, perhaps the driving 20th, but a serenade, a piece of light music designed for entertainment? Could anything seem further from Boulez's post-modernist aesthetic? 

The program makes more sense in context of the coupling: Berg's Chamber Concerto. Both works are by Viennese composers -- Berg was born and died there, Mozart moved there and died -- and both call for the unusual ensemble of 13 wind instruments. But the distance between the two pieces is still vast. To start with, the forms are entirely different: Mozart's work is full of solos drawn from within the ensemble, while Berg's is a true concerto with a pianist and violin soloists taking the lead. More fundamentally, Mozart's is an enormously delightful and occasionally affecting tonal work while Berg's is immensely challenging and only occasionally overtly appealing serial work. 

Inevitably, then, one is more curious about Boulez's Mozart than his Berg and more confident about his Berg than his Mozart, and, unsurprisingly, Boulez's approach is arguably more successful in the Berg than in the Mozart. Leading his superbly trained Ensemble InterContemporain, Boulez's Gran Partita is cool, clear, analytical, and, as often as not, a bit on the quick side. Thanks to Boulez's superlative ears and crisp technique, everything is absolutely audible and, thanks to the Paris-based chamber orchestra's first-class playing, everything is ideally executed. Listeners looking for elegance and warmth might want to look elsewhere, but listeners who value clarity and lucidity above all may find Boulez's Gran Partita reading rewarding. 

As expected, Boulez's Berg is much more successful, partially due to his excellent choices in soloists, pianist Mitsuko Uchida and violinist Christian Tetzlaff, and partially due to Boulez's unsurpassed understanding of Berg's musical language. As with his Mozart, everything is absolutely audible and ideally executed, but unlike his Mozart, Boulez and his players sound much more committed to the music and Berg's concerto comes off as much more touching than his Mozart Serenade. Beautifully recorded by Decca, this disc may please some of the people some of the time and displease the rest of the people the rest of the time, but it seems unlikely to please all of the people all of the time. (James Leonard)

Christian Tetzlaff / David Zinman / Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Violin Concerto - Violin Romances

Christian Tetzlaff is a brilliant violinist, one whose technique is equaled by his intelligence. He recorded a very respectable Beethoven Violin Concerto with Michael Gielen, last available on Point Classics in so-so sound. This newcomer is finer still, an interpretation with real personality and a point of view. It's a reading of high contrasts in which the music's antithesis between energetic outbursts (particularly in the first movement) and lyrical effusiveness comes to the fore. Zinman establishes this dichotomy right from the beginning: tempos are swift, accents are sharp, and when Tetzlaff enters, the polarity between solo and orchestra swiftly establishes itself.
In this context, Tetzlaff's use of Beethoven's own cadenza from the piano concerto version of the piece, recast for solo violin, proves an inspired choice, carrying the drama straight through to the end of the movement. The Larghetto finds Tetzlaff offering tenderness and real "Innigkeit" without a shred of excessive sentimentality; and as throughout the performance his exchanges with the orchestra's woodwind section are just lovely. Even in the rambunctious finale Tetzlaff displays remarkable variety in his phrasing of the main theme, at first a touch subdued, as if still shrugging off the previous movement's legato dreaminess, but then frisky and buoyant. It's a remarkably comprehensive conception of the piece, and the two Romances, the logical coupling, seldom have sounded more elegant.  (David Hurwitz)

Christian Tetzlaff / Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra / John Storgårds SHOSTAKOVICH Violin Concertos 1 & 2

As violinist Christian Tetzlaff steadily records the core concerto repertoire, he expands his modern coverage with the pair of concertos by Dmitry Shostakovich, which were originally composed for David Oistrakh. Inevitably, Tetzlaff's interpretations will be compared to the great Russian virtuoso's, whose performances are still held in the highest esteem and are rightly admired for their gravitas, intensity, and emotional depth. However, they are historical recordings that present the concertos in the light of Shostakovich's and Oistrakh's experiences in the Soviet era, and because of this, it is tempting to regard them as landmarks that no one can ever match or surpass. Yet Tetzlaff brings his own energy, concentration, and seriousness to his performances, and he shows a clear respect for the past and a connection to the tradition Oistrakh started. Add to his penetrating insights the exceptionally clear and controlled accompaniment by John Storgårds and the Helsinki Philharmonic, and the marvelous clarity and depth of Ondine's recording, and the excellence of this recording becomes apparent. While it won't displace the older Oistrakh recordings collectors still cherish, this 2014 release will bring a new audience to these challenging works and give weight to Tetzlaff's increasingly important catalog. (Blair Sanderson)