antje weithaas - violin: artists - review - | karsten witt musikmanagement gmbh

WAZ BOCHUM, 25/3/2009 - of: concert with the Bochum Symphonic Orchestra at the Thürmer-Saal: Rachmaninoff, Mozart, Shostakovich --- Antje Weithaas, also leading the orchestra, began light-footedly and gently. From the very first tone, she led the Bochum Symphonic to a homogeneous sound body and communicated incessantly by means of her expressive body language. She "danced" the music and bestowed an impressive charisma on the rhythmically more accentuated elements.

RBB KULTURRADIO, 17/3/2009 - of: Mendelssohn-CD with Silke Avenhaus --- Antje Weithaas has researched. (...) Weithaas discovered a wonderful movement of a violin sonata in D minor, two thirds finished - and she performes the slow introduction of this remarkable movement with great fragility, tentatively shaping every last note. (...) The way in which Weithaas and Avenhaus play music together is (also in the "famous" early sonata in F minor, op.4) simply clever, tasteful, brave - and is true chamber music. (...) Weithaas and Avenhaus have found the very specific "Mendelssohn-tone". Mendelssohn does not sound either too easy or pampered, nor deliberately dramatically charged.

KLASSIK.COM, 13.2.2009 - of: Mendelssohn-CD with Silke Avenhaus --- It is marvellous for example, how both musicians shade the second theme of the first movement [of the sonata in F Major 1838] with subtle nuances and profundity by attentively focussing on the changes between major and minor. ...more

THE AUSTRALIAN, 11/8/2009 - Antje Weithaas with the Queensland Orchestra in Brisbane: Berg Violin concerto --- Exuding compassion, tenderness and despair, Weithaas used a brillant spectrum of colour and her theatrical vibrato dug so deep into the strings, it seemed at times as if she could draw blood.

ESSLINGER ZEITUNG, 14/7/2009 - Antje Weithaas with her piano trio at Ludwigsburg Castle Festival --- Antje Weithaas (violin), Tanja Tetzlaff (cello) und Gunilla Süsmann (piano) performed the works with great passion and inspiration and brilliantly dislayed Clara Schumann's most famous piece, the Piano Trio in G minor op.17. ...more

FAZ, 11.2.2009 - of: concert with Silke Avenhaus --- In the concert series "Treffpunkt Klassik" in Kelkheim Town Hall , the duo made very precise distinctions between Brahms and Mendelssohn with regard to personal style and generation with the Violin sonata in F Major (1838) by the latter on the occasion of his bicentenial anniversary. Here they sounded much brighter with likewise specific expression, lively, joyfully excited, with elfish ease in the first and last movement. ...more

WWW.VIVAORCH.CO.UK, January 2009 - of: concert with the sinfonia ViVA in Derby--- Antje Weithaas was the soloist in what was probably the most engaging performance of the E minor Violin Concerto I think I've ever heard. Her interaction with the orchestra was as much of a delight as her actual playing - impeccable technique informed by controlled spontaneity. The second movement was unaffected and straightforward, and all the better for it.

GENERALANZEIGER, 20.1.2009 - of: concert with the Staatsorchester Rheinissche Philharmonie Koblenz at Beethovenhalle Bonn --- The programme [of the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie Koblenz] included works by Beethoven, Britten and Brahms. Without a doubt, the highlight was Britten's violin concerto, premiered at the New York Carnegie Hall in 1940, which was captivatingly performed by the splendid Antje Weithaas. ...more

GENERAL-ANZEIGER, 16/1/2009 --- In the fourth chamber concert in the Beethoven-Haus, presented by the Beethoven Orchester Bonn, both works [Ligeti: Trio für Violin, Horn and Piano 1982 and Brahms: Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano E-flat Major op.40] could be heard in tremendously emphatic interpretations. ...more

WIENER ZEITUNG, 18/11/2008 - of: Violin concerto op. 33 by Carl Nielsen with the Tonkünstler Orchestra under Kristjan Järvi in Vienna --- Antje Weithaas delivered a remarkable performance as soloist. She mastered the fast-paced passages impeccably, seemingly effortless, and the sound of her violin always remained supple and pure. With sensitivity, she savoured the lyrical passages.

FONO FORUM, 11/2008 - of: French Violin sonatas: CD with Silke Avenhaus --- (...) a well attuned duo with outstanding interpretations (...). No matter which sonata or movement one chooses from this CD, it is simply impressive what a rich range of timbres and nuances violinist Antje Weithaas is capable of and how aptly she meets the work's demands. The two-movement sonata by Saint-Saëns with its elegance and esprit is instantaneously captivating (...). In Ravel, Weithaas and Avenhaus make the colours become fragrant (...): Fauré's early first violin sonata, sometimes still remniscent of Schumann, blossoms in romantic indulgence.

HANNOVERSCHE ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG, 23/9/2008 - of: Beehoven's Violin concerto with the Staatsorchester Hannover --- Weithaas (...) combines her intelligent, analytical performance with an extraordinary spirit. She interlinks herself very closely with the orchestra, for instance in the first movement. She does not boast needlessly, but picks up motifs, gives them back, creates references. Weithaas gives impulses in the communication with her partners, being the impetus of the music. Her energy and her passionate, occasionally bold resolve are captivating.

PIZZICATO, February 2008 - of: Brahms CD with Silke Avenhaus --- once again, they have recorded an outstanding CD. It is characterised by perfect musical interaction (...). That requires a perfect technique, it is for instance worth listening to Antje Weithaas's brilliant intonation or the subtle playing of Silke Avenhaus. Brahms' music is living, breathing, full of suspense, it can be joyful, contemplative, cheerful and earnest. (...) Consequently, it is unnecessary to focus on certain moments as everything sounds so consistent. Even if their dedication is always present, their performance never lacks the confident knowledge of what is important to Brahms.

DER TAGESPIEGEL, 8/4/07 --- Sofia Gubaidulina's violin concerto „Offertorium" after the interval calls for a proactive interpreter. Antje Weithaas plays this work from 1981 with heroic empathy; in her flexible playing, Gubaidulina's sophisticated, almost corporeal instrumentation finds its perfect match.

NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG, 20/9/2006 --- Weithaas (...) and the young pianist Avenhaus (...) are passionate chamber musicians. They shape the alternating ranges of expression with the most beautiful reciprocal adjustments. ...more

FONO FORUM, April 2006 --- Antje Weithaas has an extraordinary range of expressions at her disposal. Her interpretation is deliberate and well-considered; there is no note without meaning; everything has depth of feeling. She develops nuances, details, the subtle shaping of tone shades from the inspiration of the moment, as a sound which can only happen once - unrepeatable and unique. Her playing is never predictable, which is just what makes it so exciting; there is always room for new ideas. Antje Weithaas belongs to the great violinists of our time. (...) this is one of the most significant Schubert recordings of recent years.

FAZ, 18/1/06 --- The concert began with Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 4 K218. With Antje Weithaas as soloist, the interpretation was so fresh, so perky in the outer movements and so genuine in the middle movement that even Mozart haters enjoyed it. ...more

THE STRAD, 10/2003 --- This was my first hearing of Antje Weithaas as a concerto soloist and I cannot recall a more beautiful account of a Mozart violin concerto - in this case the A major - in the concert hall. ...more

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH, 2/8/2003 --- The suggestion of something magically weightless recurred in Antje Weithaas's performance of Mozart's A major violin concerto. Some soloists give an earthy sense of the violin's physicality, of horse-hair biting or caressing the string. But not Weithaas. Her sound entrancingly pure, the bow hardly seeming to meet the string, and yet there's no lack of wit and verve in the playing. In the stamping "Turkish" episode in the finale there was a wonderful contained energy in the way she urged the pulse forward, while somehow staying firmly on the beat - another mysterious moment in a concert that was full of them.

Photo: Marco Borggreve