BaL 4.11.23 - Bach: Violin Concerto no. 1 in A minor

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

10.30 am

Building a Library
Simon Heighes chooses his favourite recording of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Violin Concerto in A minor, BWV 1041.

JS Bach, himself a violinist, well understood the possibilities of the violin as the eight sonatas for violin and harpsichord, and six works for unaccompanied violin amply demonstrate. Bach’s two surviving solo violin concertos are thought to have been written around 1730 for Leipzig’s renowned Collegium Musicum, a convivial group of university students and professionals which Bach directed and who met on Friday evenings at Zimmermann’s coffee house.

The A minor Violin Concerto has long been a cornerstone of the repertoire, and its many recordings, including by some of the major violinists of the last century, tellingly illustrate the ever-changing fashions of musical performance.

Available recordings:-

Salvatore Accardo, Chamber Orchestra of Europe *
Federico Agostini, I Musici
Walter Barylli, Vienna State Opera Orchestra, Hermann Scherchen
Joshua Bell, Academy of St Martin in the Fields *
Cecilia Bernardini, Dunedin Consort, John Butt *
Amandine Beyer, Gli Incogniti
Lina Tur Bonet, Musica Alchemica *
Joseph Brezina, Camerata Labacencis, Eugen Duvier *
Lina Tur Bonet, Musica Alchemica *
Anja Bukovec, Cologne New Philharmonic Orchestra, Volker Hartung *
Adolf Busch, Busch Chamber Players, Luke Foss
Renaud Capuçon, Chamber Orchestra of Europ
Giuliano Carmignola, Concerto Köln *
Kati Debretzeni, English Baroque Soloists, Sir John Eliot Gardiner
Devy Erlih, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra Munich, Kurt Redelti
Vesco Eschkenazy, Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra (SACD)
Isabelle Faust, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
Krista Bennion Feeney, Orchestra Of St. Luke’s*
Huguette Fernandez, Orchestre de Chambre Jean-Francois Paillard, Jean-Francois Paillard *
Christian Ferras, Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan
Zino Francescatti, Festival Strings Lucerne, Rudolf Baumgartner *
André Gertler , Budapest Symphony Orchestra, Gyorgy Lehel *
Ivry Gitlis, Louisiana Museum Art Ensemble
Roland Greutter, NDR Sinfonieorchester, Günter Wand *
Szymon Goldberg, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra *
Szymon Goldberg, Philharmonia Orchestra, Walter Susskind *
Roland Greutter, NDR Sinfonieorchester, Günter Wand *
Arthur Grumiaux, Les Solistes Romands, Arpad Gérecz *
Arthur Grumiaux, Engliah Chamber Orchestra, Raymond Leppard
Léon Guller, Guller Chamber Orchestra *
Franco Gulli, SO des Südwestfunks Baden-Baden,Ernest Bour
Hilary Hahn, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Jeffrey Kahane *
Jörg Halubek, Il Gusto Barocco
Alice Harnoncourt, Concentus musicus Wien, Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Joji Hattori, Scottish Chamber Orchestra *
Jascha Heifetz, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Alfred Wallenstein
Daniel Hope, Chamber Orchestra of Europe *
Václav Hudecek, Virtuosi di Praga, Dmitri Sitkovetsky *
Benjamin Hudson, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra
Monica Huggett, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Ton Koopman *
Monica Huggett, Sonnerie
Alina Ibragimova, Arcangelo, Jonathan Cohen
Rut Ingólfsdóttir, Reykjavik Chamber Orchestra
Krzysztof Jakowicz, Witold Lutoslawski Chamber Philharmonic, Jan Milosz Zarzycki *
Janine Jansen, Pauline Sachse, Maarten Jansen, Rick Stotijn, Jan Jansen, Monika Urbonaite, Nimrod Guez, Tijmen Huisingh, Cindy Albracht, Boris Brovtsyn, Frederik Paulsson, Julia-Maria Kretz *
Gérard Jarry, Orchestre de Chambre Jean-Francois Paillard
Hans Kalafusz, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra *
Nigel Kennedy, Berliner Philharmoniker *
Leonid Kogan, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Kirill Kondrashin *
Dénes Kovács, Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, Miklós Erdélyi
Manfredo Kraemer, Concerto Copenhagen, Lars Ulrik Mortensen
Gidon Kremer, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields
Sara Kuijken, La Petite Bande, Sigiswald Kuijken
Jaakko Kuusisto, Tapiola Sinfonietta
Jeanne Lamon, Tafelmusik *
Changfu Liu, Beijing Central Philharmonic Orchestra, Huichang Yan *
Catherine Mackintosh, King’s Consort, Robert King
Jeanne Lamon, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra *
Daniel Lozakovich, Kammerorchester des Symphonieorchesters des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Radoslaw Szulc *
Yehudi Menuhin & Bath Festival Orchestra *
Yehudi Menuhin, Orchestre Symphonique de Paris, Pierre Monteux
Yehudi Menuhin (DVD)
Roberto Michelucci, I Musici *
Nathan Milstein, Orchestre Philharmonique de l’ORTF, Antal Dorati *
Erica Morini, Princeton Chamber Orchestra, Nicholas Harsanyi
Viktoria Mullova, Accademia Bizantina *
Anne-Sophie Mutter, English Chamber Orchestra
Anne-Sophie Mutter, Trondheim Soloists
Deborah Nemtanu, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Sascha Goetzel *
Marie-Annick Nicolas, Orchestre de chambre national de Toulouse, Jean-Claude Malgoire *
Takako Nishizaki, Cappella Istropolitana, Oliver von Dohnányi
Thibault Noally, Les Accents
David Oistrakh, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Rudolf Barshai
David Oistrakh, Wiener Symphoniker
Manoug Parikian, Baden Chamber Orchestra, Alexander Krannhals
Itzhak Perlman, English Chamber Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim *
Podger, Brecon Baroque (SACD)
Christoph Poppen, Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, Helmuth Rilling
Nemanja Radulovic, Les Trilles du Diable *
Jonathan Rees, Scottish Ensemble *
János Rolla, Budapest Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra *
Henk Rubingh, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Kurt Masur *
Shunske Sato, Il Pomo d’oro *
Leila Schayegh, Gusto Barocco, Jörg Halubek
Benjamin Schmid, Cis Collegium Mozarteum Salzburg, Jurgen Geise
Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Festival Strings Lucerne, Rudolf Baumgartner
Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Wiener Philharmoniker, Hans Knappertsbusch *
Jaap Schröder, Academy of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood *
Julia Schröder, Lautten Compagney *
Jan Sedlácek, Plzenský rozhlasový orchestr, Jaroslav Krcek *
Oscar Shumsky, Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Vladimir Spivakov, Moscow Virtuosi
Simon Standage, Collegium Musicum 90 *
Simon Standage, The English Concert, Trevor Pinnock
Jan Stanienda, Polish Chamber Orchestra
Steven Staryk, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bernard Haitink *
Arabella Steinbacher, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra
Arnold Steinhardt, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. Jahja Ling
Isaac Stern, English Chamber Orchestra, Alexander Schneider *
Isaac Stern, London Symphony Orchestra *
Isaac Stern, Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy
Karl Suske, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Kurt Masur *
Henryk Szeryng, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Sir Neville Marriner
Henryk Szeryng, Collegium Musicum Winterthur *
Richard Tognetti, Australian Chamber Orchestra
Alberto Tozzi, Musici di San Marco, Francesco Macci *
Pablo Valetti, Café Zimmermann *
Emmy Verhey, Camerata Antonio Lucio *
Dieter Vorholz, Mainzer Kammerorchester, Gunter Kehr
Jean-Pierre Wallez, Ensemble Instrumental De France *
Elizabeth Wallfisch, of Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Frank Peter Zimmermann
Julia Wedman, L’Harmonie des saisons, Eric Milnes *
Isandar Widjaja, Berliner Camerata
Endre Wolf, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Michael Gielen
Pinchas Zukerman, English Chamber Orchestra *

(* = download only)

[MickyD]

Jaap Schroder/AAM/Hogwood - the very first digital recording from the AAM.
Manze/AAM

I've always been fond of the Huggett/Koopman.

[mikealdren]

I'm amazed how short the list is! Is neither of the Mullova recordings currently available? Is Grumiaux's box set no longer around, there are 3 versions in there. Heifetz is available as a Naxos download.

[Pulcinella]

I'm amazed how short the list is! Is neither of the Mullova recordings currently available? Is Grumiaux's box set no longer around, there are 3 versions in there. Heifetz is available as a Naxos download.

Alpie says: A selection of recordings (and I'm not surprised that it's not a full list!).

[mikealdren]

Not meant as a criticism of Alpie whose lists are always excellent, I'm just surprised at how few recordings there are available. For such an important work, I would have expected a list twice this long

[richardfinegold]

Has anyone ever heard a bad recording? The main interest here for me would be period v modern instruments. I have several of the listed recordings but the one that I’ve listened to since it was released is Podger

[Pulcinella]

Not meant as a criticism of Alpie whose lists are always excellent, I'm just surprised at how few recordings there are available. For such an important work, I would have expected a list twice this long

307 entries listed here, though many will be duplicated in different formats or sets.

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/works/44591--bach-j-s-violin-concerto-no-1-in-a-minor-bwv1041/browse

[Darloboy]

My first thought was "Not again!" but it seems that this is the first time BaL has dedicated a programme to this concerto since 1959! Although it did have a programme on both solo violin concertos in 1983.

I must have thought it had been covered more recently because the double concerto (with which it's often paired) comes up so often.

[Joseph K]

Jonathan Rees with The Scottish Ensemble here.

[mikealdren]

Has anyone ever heard a bad recording? The main interest here for me would be period v modern instruments. I have several of the listed recordings but the one that I’ve listened to since it was released is Podger

Try Perlman with the ECO, I haven't listened for a while but from memory, it wasn't good. I have it on LP but it's not to hand at the moment. His mentor Stern and Ormandy were equally heavy handed.

[CallMePaul]

[QUOTE=Pulcinella;n1288421]

307 entries listed here, though many will be duplicated in different formats or sets...
...but "only" 94 on CD (262 on download, some of course available in both formats)!

[pastoralguy]

Try Perlman with the ECO, I haven't listened for a while but from memory, it wasn't good. I have it on LP but it's not to hand at the moment. His mentor Stern and Ormandy were equally heavy handed.

A rare dud cd from Perlman. I remember my late fiddle teacher saying it was ‘intensely unmusical!’

[Barbirollians]

My first thought was "Not again!" but it seems that this is the first time BaL has dedicated a programme to this concerto since 1959! Although it did have a programme on both solo violin concertos in 1983.

I must have thought it had been covered more recently because the double concerto (with which it's often paired) comes up so often.

Wasn't the E Minor done quite recently ?

[Barbirollians]

Nige and the BPO are really rather good.

[mikealdren]

Wasn't the E Minor done quite recently ?

E major, yes it was, 2019 and the chosen version was Rachel Podger with, according to the thread on hear, 4 other recommended recordings:

Pablo Valetti (violin) Café Zimmermann

Janine Jansen and Friends

Renaud Capucon Chamber Orchestra of Europe

Isabelle Faust Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin

It seems Valetti and Faust are NLA.