The Violin Concerto in D Major op. 77 by Johannes Brahms is for performers and audience alike one of the loveliest, most challenging examples of the genre. It was with this work that Arabella Steinbacher gave her debut in the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein in December 2007, the same hall where the composer himself had conducted on occasion. Arabella Steinbacher's debut was accompanied by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under its chief conductor Fabio Luisi, who are also to be heard on this live recording in Schumann's Fourth Symphony. Both this symphony and the Brahms concerto were dedicated to the leading violin virtuoso of the second half of the 19th century, namely Joseph Joachim. He did not just inspire Brahms to write this work, but also helped him in word and deed during the act of composition (if impatiently, when it came to keeping the deadline for the world première). The work soon began a triumphal procession through the concert halls. Thanks to Joachim's numerous famed successors, it would be impossible to imagine the concert repertoire today without it. Arabella Steinbacher won the Joachim Violin Competition in Hanover several years ago, which was a starting point of her current international career. She is furthermore a worthy representative of the violin style that is celebrated in Brahms's concerto, a style that is virtuosic without virtuosity becoming an end in itself. Thanks to her much-praised brilliant, precise tone, the listener remains aware throughout that the solo part never recedes completely into the background, even where the orchestra unfolds its most expansive symphonic arguments - such as in the presentation of the work's themes and in the sensitive orchestration of the first and second movements. Arabella Steinbacher fully savours the works' variety of colour and climax. In the brilliant cadenza of the first movement and in the highly spirited third, she draws on an embarrassment of virtuosic riches almost as a matter of course. It is masterly.

When the ORFEO label was established in Munich forty years ago, surely no one with the music scene back then would have predicted that the record company would develop into a firmly established player on the classical music market. One of the label’s main priorities in the early years was vocal music, with opera rarities top of the list and since the mid 1980s the re-use of historic tape recordings. Big names featured on the label’s own productions, while ORFEO also developed into a talent factory by discovering and nurturing young artist. This “ORFEO 40th Anniversary” 2-album sampler well reflects these two sides of the label by combining highlight tracks of historical recordings with today’s global stars.

This album is violinist Arabella Steinbacher’s tribute to the favorite composer of her family household. The music of Richard Strauss has played a crucial role throughout her life. As great Strauss lovers, her parents named her after the main character of Strauss’ opera Arabella, and the family house was filled with Strauss melodies, often sung live by famous singers accompanied by Steinbacher’s father, who was a solo-répétiteur at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. The album starts with a piece that Strauss originally conceived for violin and orchestra, the rarely-performed Violin Concerto in D minor, composed when he was still a teenager. Two other early instrumental works – the Romanze (usually performed by cello and orchestra) and Scherzino (an arrangement of an early piano piece) – are also featured on this album. The rest of the repertoire consists of famous Strauss songs (Zueignung, Wiegenlied, Traum durch die Dämmerung, Cäcilie), “sung” on Steinbacher’s violin. The apotheosis of this highly personal programme is Steinbacher’s rendition of “Aber der Richtige…”, the celestial duet from Arabella. Arabella Steinbacher, a multiple award-winner with an extensive PENTATONE discography, is accompanied by the WDR Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Lawrence Foster.

After having recorded Mozart’s last three violin concertos in 2014, Arabella Steinbacher, the Festival Strings Lucerne and its leader Daniel Dodds now complete the cycle by presenting Mozart’s less well-known, but equally enchanting Violin Concertos 1 & 2, together with his Adagio in E Major and Rondos in C Major and B-flat Major. Steinbacher plays the cadenzas by Wolfgang Schneiderhan, who co-founded the Festival Strings Lucerne in 1956. Another exciting aspect of this album is that she plays for the first time on the “Ex Benno Walter“ Strad from 1718. Arabella Steinbacher, a multiple award-winner with an extensive PENTATONE discography, is accompanied by the esteemed players of the Festival Strings Lucerne and their leader and artistic director Daniel Dodds.

On this critically-acclaimed recording, Arabella Steinbacher brings together Bruch’s world famous First Violin Concerto with Chausson’s lush Poème and Korngold’s Violin Concerto, which is gradually gaining ground as a twentieth-century masterpiece. Steinbacher is joined by the Orquestra Gulbenkian under the baton of Lawrence Foster, with whom she has developed a congenial musical partnership over the years. BBC Music Magazine commented that “there is no doubting Steinbacher’s refulgent sound or the flair of her delivery” while MusicWeb International praised “the tingling climax of this Chausson.”

After a temporary absence, this album now returns to the physical market in an affordable Stereo re-issue. Arabella Steinbacher is a multiple award-winner with an extensive Pentatone discography spanning more than a decade. Lawrence Foster and the Orquestra Gulbenkian are also longstanding partners of the label.

Excerpt from review of the original SACD version of this release:

There is no doubting Steinbacher's refulgent sound or the flair of her delivery.

-- BBC Music Magazine

Arabella Steinbacher presents works for violin and orchestra by Johann Sebastian Bach and Arvo Pärt, together with violinist Christoph Koncz and the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester. Bach’s violin concertos have had a very special significance for Steinbacher ever since hearing the A Minor Concerto at the age of four, an experience that made her decide to become a musician. This seminal work is performed here alongside the E Major Violin Concerto and the Double Concerto in D Minor, on which she is joined by violinist Christoph Koncz. The Bach concertos are framed by two of Arvo Pärt’s most profound and enigmatic pieces: Fratres and Spiegel im Spiegel; the former in the version for violin, string orchestra and percussion, the latter rendered in a version for violin and piano, together with Peter von Wienhardt. Bach and Pärt may be centuries apart, but for Steinbacher, they have a spiritual and sacred origin in common, and their music resonates deeply with her. Arabella Steinbacher is a multiple award-winner with an extensive Pentatone discography, including Mozart’s complete violin concertos (2014 and 2021), Four Seasons (Vivaldi & Piazzolla, 2020), Mendelssohn & Tchaikovsky Violin Concertos (2015) and many others. Christoph Koncz and the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester make their Pentatone debut.

REVIEWS:

I’ve long been a fan of Steinbacher’s; I’ve raved about her playing in a wide variety of repertoire: Bartok, Brahms, and Hindemith and Britten. Here she plays two Bach Violin Concertos: in E major and A minor, and a Bach Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, with another fine violinist, Christian Kontz. Once again Pentatone provides fine accompaniment: the agile and stylish Stuttgarter Kammerorchester.

Two Arvo Pärt pieces bookend the three Bach concertos. His Fratres comes in many versions; this one, for violin, string orchestra and percussion, is from 1992. This is a suitable prelude to the meat of the program: hushed and reverential, but in the end as dramatic a curtain raiser as a Rossini overture. The final piece, Spiegel im Spiegel, in its original 1978 version for violin and piano, acts as a kind of valedictory encore. Once again, Arabella Steinbacher has a fine partner, in pianist Peter von Wienhard.

-- Music for Several Instruments (Dean Frey)

From the evidence of this new Pentatone album of Bach concertos, Steinbacher's artistry of the violin reveals an ever-increasing maturity. The lovely slender tone, flawless cantabile and sheer love of melody she has displayed in her earlier recordings is still there, along with an increased awareness of the harmonic basis of the great works of music she performs. And her sure hand in shaping the graceful contour of a given melody is more skilled and knowing than ever.

-- Audio Visual Club of Atlanta (Phil Muse)

Nine years after its initial release, Arabella Steinbacher’s acclaimed interpretation of two of the greatest concertos ever written for the violin is presented in an attractively priced Stereo re-issue. Steinbacher joins forces with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande under the baton of Charles Dutoit, one of the most eminent conductors of our age. Both the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and Arabella Steinbacher, a multiple award-winner, have an extensive Pentatone discography spanning more than a decade.

Star violinist Arabella Steinbacher presents Antonio Vivaldi’s world-famous Four Seasons alongside Astor Piazzolla’s Cuatro estaciones porteñas, creating a lively combination of baroque and tango. The enormous popularity of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons tends to make us forget the original and ground-breaking nature of these violin concertos. Coupling them with Piazzolla’s tango-inspired Four Seasons of Buenos Aires makes both pieces sound fresher than ever before, thanks to Steinbacher’s personal engagement with the repertoire and the inspired accompaniment of the Münchener Kammerorchester. Piazzolla’s music is performed here in a new arrangement for violin and string orchestra by Peter von Wienhardt, whose Strauss song arrangements on Steinbacher’s previous album Aber der Richtige ... (2018) were extensively praised by the press.

Arabella Steinbacher, a multiple award-winner with an extensive PENTATONE discography, is accompanied by the players of the Münchener Kammerorchester, who make their PENTATONE debut.

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REVIEW:

Both soloist and ensemble approach the contrasting styles – baroque energy and bluesy Latin passion – with supple mastery, bows biting into strings, rhythms accentuated, mood at times aggressive. Vivaldi’s Summer, with its rushing storms and prickly, insect-ridden heat, sounds more than usually wild, with Steinbacher fearless in the rapid, high-flying outbursts. What a player.

– Observer (UK)