Bach: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2; Concertos for 2 & 3 Violins Freiburger Barockorchestra, Gottfried von der Goltz, Petra Müllejans, Anne Katharina Schreiber

• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750): Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor, BWV 1043:
• 1 Bach: Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor, BWV 1043: I. Vivace 03:35
• 2 Bach: Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor, BWV 1043: II. Largo ma non tanto 07:20
• 3 Bach: Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor, BWV 1043: III. Allegro 04:40
• Violin Concerto No. 2 in E Major, BWV 1042:
• 4 Bach: Violin Concerto No. 2 in E Major, BWV 1042: I. Allegro 07:33
• 5 Bach: Violin Concerto No. 2 in E Major, BWV 1042: II. Adagio 06:08
• 6 Bach: Violin Concerto No. 2 in E Major, BWV 1042: III. Allegro assai 02:38
• Violin Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, BWV 1041:
• 7 Bach: Violin Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, BWV 1041: І. Allegro moderato 03:50
• 8 Bach: Violin Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, BWV 1041: II. Andante 06:11
• 9 Bach: Violin Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, BWV 1041: III. Allegro assai 03:35
• Concerto for Three Violins in D Major, BWV 1064R:
• 10 Bach: Concerto for Three Violins in D Major, BWV 1064R: I. Allegro 06:05
• 11 Bach: Concerto for Three Violins in D Major, BWV 1064R: II. Adagio 05:40
• 12 Bach: Concerto for Three Violins in D Major, BWV 1064R: III. Allegro 04:13
• Total Runtime 01:01:28

Info for Bach: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2; Concertos for 2 & 3 Violins

Bach's three well-known Violin Concertos are paired here with a splendid concerto for three violins, reconstructed from the surviving version for three harpsichords, BWV 1064. The composer's fascination with the Italian solo concerto, which resulted in numerous arrangements and compositions, dates to his second Weimar period from 1708 to 1717. However, current research has revealed that Bach wrote the violin concertos around 1720, during his engagement as Kapellmeister in Cöthen. On this recording, soloists Petra Müllejans, Gottfried von der Goltz, and Anne Katharina Schreiber are backed by the matchless Freiburger Barockorchester in dazzling readings of these evergreen favorites.

A veritable firework display under the bows of the peerless violinists of the Freiburger Barockorchester!

"Recordings of Bach's violin concertos are not in short supply, but this one, nicely recorded at a small hall in the home city of the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, is unusually satisfying. It does not exactly break new ground, but it improves on several existing ideas and puts them together into a nifty package. First of all is the program itself. The Freiburgers and their leader/violinists, Petra Müllejans and Gottfried von der Goltz (joined here by Anna-Katharina Schreiber), offer by way of conclusion the Concerto for three violins and orchestra, BWV 1064R, a lost work reconstructed from a later version for harpsichord. This isn't terribly often recorded, and it makes a rousing finale to the lively readings that have come before. The soloists have a distinctive ensemble feel, seeming by way of numerous small details of phrasing to react to one another and to the orchestra with uncommon individuality. The orchestra itself plays period instruments, and it has a nice combination of gutsiness (so to speak) and sheen. Harmonia Mundi's engineering at Freiburg's Paulussaal captures all this in faithful detail, adding one more item to a long list of reasons to choose this release." (James Manheim, AMG)

Freiburger Barockorchester
Gottfried von der Goltz, violin
Petra Müllejans, violin
Anne Katharina Schreiber, violin

The Freiburg Baroque Orchestra (FBO)
is one of the leading ensembles of historically informed performance practice. For more than 30 years, it has shaped international musical life and set musical standards with its concerts and recordings.

The FBO was founded in 1987 by former students at the Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg, mainly from the violin class of Rainer Kussmaul, later concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic. The ensemble soon advanced to become one of the most sought-after orchestras with period instruments and achieved international renown. The FBO regularly performs in the most important international concert halls, including the Berlin Philharmonie, Wigmore Hall London, Lincoln Center in New York, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the Philharmonie de Paris. Concert tours take the ensemble to all continents, from South America to Australia. At the same time, the FBO maintains its own subscription series in Freiburg, Stuttgart and Berlin and is a guest at major music festivals such as the Salzburg Festival, the Tanglewood Festival in the USA and the Tage Alter Musik Innsbruck.

The orchestra's core repertoire is Baroque and Classical music, but it also frequently performs Romantic music, especially works by Mendelssohn and Schumann. In the spirit of historically informed performance practice, the FBO usually performs without a conductor, but for selected projects, e.g. opera performances or large-scale orchestral works, the ensemble works with renowned conductors such as Pablo Heras-Casado, Sir Simon Rattle or Teodor Currentzis. The FBO has a particularly close musical friendship with René Jacobs, with whom the ensemble devotes itself in particular to the operas of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart or oratorios from the Baroque and Classical periods.

The artistic directors of the FBO are Gottfried von der Goltz (violin) and Kristian Bezuidenhout (fortepiano), who took over this position from Petra Müllejans in 2017. Both artists also appear as soloists. Furthermore, the ensemble works with renowned instrumentalists and vocal soloists, including Isabelle Faust, Philippe Jaroussky, Christian Gerhaher, Alexander Melnikov, Andreas Staier, Jean-Guihen Queyras and many others.

The FBO's extraordinary musical diversity is documented on numerous recordings, which have been decorated with a multitude of prizes and awards, including several Echo Classic prizes, Grammy nominations and prizes from the German Record Critics.

The 2021/22 season will take the FBO on an extensive tour of Germany and the Netherlands with Bach's Christmas Oratorio together with the Nederlands Kamerkoor under the direction of Peter Dijkstra. The FBO also gives guest performances at the Haydneum Festival Budapest, as well as at the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid and the Philharmonie Paris. Under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle, the orchestra will perform Rameau's opera Hippolyte et Aricie at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin.

Gottfried von der Goltz
has made an internationally respected name for himself as a baroque violinist and as artistic director of the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. As was customary in the 18th century, he conducts the FBO from the concertmaster's podium.

His repertoire ranges from the early Baroque to the musical present, illustrated by a broad discography that proves him to be an immensely versatile and flexible musician. Especially with CD recordings of the long unjustly forgotten music of the Dresden Baroque and the four Bach sons, Gottfried von der Goltz has earned a reputation among experts as a specialist.

In addition to his numerous appearances with the FBO, Gottfried von der Goltz works regularly (as guest conductor and as soloist) with the Berlin Baroque Soloists, the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn, the hr Symphony Orchestra, the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and other ensembles. For several years he was closely associated with the Norsk Barokkorkester as artistic director.

Gottfried von der Goltz also has a great passion for chamber music, which he pursues in various formations. As a professor at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg, he is a sought-after teacher of baroque and modern violin.

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