Béla Bartók - Violin Concertos (Arabella Steinbacher)

Information

Composer: Béla Bartók

• Violin Concerto No. 2, BB 117
• Violin Concerto No. 1, BB 48a

Arabella Steinbacher, violin

Orchestre de la Suisse Romande

Marek Janowski, conductor

Date: 2009

Label: PentaTone

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Review

Arabella Steinbacher and Marek Janowski offer us Bartók in 3D, the three dimensions not only spatial but emotional as well. I can’t think of a version of the Second Concerto, past or present, where structure and content are more thoughtfully balanced, or where significant points in the score are more lovingly underlined. I lost count of the number of times I paused the CD player to note this or that salient detail, but for those interested enough to check for themselves, I’ll quote just a few. For openers, the woodwinds winding their way around the soloist as she unfolds the concerto’s first theme; the way Steinbacher eases her vibrato and softens her tone (a sort of implied expression of ecstasy) before lunging into the muscular second idea, the Suisse Romande woodwinds responding with humorous comments of their own; and while all this is going on, the clarity of the strings’ important (but often obscured) pizzicatos. The ensemble is watertight and the recording doesn’t miss a trick. Then you might check out from 3'00", where the violin trills against a series of mysterious string chords before Bartók brings a warming flush to his accompaniment (3'32") then fires off again freshly energised. If all this sounds like the self-obsessed wittering of a critic seduced merely by detail, please believe me that it isn’t: everything about this production works on behalf of Bartók’s wonderful score, and that includes the second movement’s juxtaposing of mists and percussion-topped hyperactivity, and the finale’s often dramatic mirror-imaging of the first movement. It all leaps from the speakers.

The First Concerto also benefits from the Steinbacher/Janowski treatment, the first movement a simple love song, the Straussian Allegro giocoso second movement spontaneous and unguarded, just like the youthful infatuation that inspired it. But it’s the Second Concerto that really makes this an essential purchase, even for those whose collections already include versions by Shaham and Boulez (DG, 6/99) and Zehetmair and Fischer (Berlin Classics), not to mention a plethora of vintage alternatives. Mark my words, when Steinbacher joins their ranks, she won’t be forgotten.

— Rob Cowan

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Béla Bartók (25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist who is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century. As an ethnomusicologist, his fieldwork with the composer Zoltán Kodály formed the basis for all later research in the field. Bartók employed folk themes and rhythms into his own music, achieving a style that was nationalistic and deeply personal. His notable works include the opera Bluebeard's Castle (1911), 6 string quartets (1908–39), the Mikrokosmos piano set, Concerto for Orchestra (1943), and 3 piano concertos (1926, 1931 & 1945).

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Arabella Steinbacher (born 14 November 1981) is a German classical violinist. She began playing the violin at the age of three and studied with Ana Chumachenco at the Munich College of Music. She has won several prestigious awards, including 3rd Prize at the 2000 Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition in Hanover. Steinbacher is known for her expressive and nuanced playing, and she has performed with many of the world's leading orchestras. She is also a dedicated teacher and has given masterclasses around the world. Steinbacher has been recording exclusively for PENTATONE since 2009.

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