Arabella Steinbacher

Arabella Steinbacher – Britten & Hindemith : Violin Concertos (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:05:44 minutes | 1,11 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © PENTATONE

The violin concertos by Benjamin Britten and Paul Hindemith are among the most famous and, above all, the best violin concertos of the 20th century. From the very first day they were among the standards in the programs of the great violin virtuosos. To this day, they are a touchstone for every violin soloist. And of course for every soloist. Arabella Steinbacher is opening a new phase of her outstanding career with this challenging program. With these interpretations, she confronts herself with the comparison to the great grandees of the past and present. Because who wouldn’t immediately have David Oistrakh in mind when it comes to Hindemith’s violin concerto or Mark Lubotsky for Britten’s contribution to the genre? However, Arabella Steinbacher is in no way inferior to these legendary violinists of the mono era with her latest interpretation. Instead of attacking timeless references, she goes her own way and, with her famously lyrical violin tone, reveals a side of these concerts that is still relatively poorly illuminated. Steinbacher lends Paul Hindemith’s 1939 masterpiece of musical modernism an unusually bucolic note with her outstanding phrasing, while she exposes the most wonderful melodies in Britten’s concerto. With the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin under the direction of its new chief conductor Vladimir Jurowski, she is supported by congenial musical partners who have already proven many times that they are among the most important specialists for music of the 20th century.

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Arabella Steinbacher – J.S. Bach & Pärt: Works for Violin & Chamber Orchestra (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:08:56 minutes | 2,89 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © PentaTone

Any number of recordings pair Bach’s music with those of the minimalists, with Pärt being primary among them. The idea is that Baroque-style instrumental figuration is common to both and offers a contrast to Romantic musical dynamics. However, the equation is often too pat, and the two composers require some mediation to make them fit. That is what happens in this release by violinist Arabella Steinbacher and the conductorless Stuttgarter Kammerorchester. Steinbacher’s solution is not to enliven Pärt but to push Bach in a minimalist direction with straightforward, rather featureless performances where the violin (or pair of violins in the Concerto for two violins and orchestra in D minor, BWV 1043) is blended into the textures. It works for several reasons. One is Steinbacher’s Guarneri violin, with a gorgeous sonority that flows through the slow movements and forms a counterpart to the rich resonances of Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel, which closes the program. Beyond that is the dynamic of the entire program, which takes on a hypnotic quality. One might not choose Steinbacher’s Bach concertos on their own, but in this context, they have a cumulative effect. This novel recording is especially recommended to Pärt fans. – James Manheim
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Arabella Steinbacher – Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. 8 No. 2, RV 315 “L’estate” (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 10:20 minutes | 191 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © PentaTone

This is the fourth and final of four digital pre-releases taken from the full album.
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Arabella Steinbacher – Aber der Richtige… (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:00:26 minutes | 561 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © PentaTone

This album is violinist Arabella Steinbacher’s tribute to the favourite 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.

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Arabella Steinbacher – Mozart: Violin Concertos 1 & 2 (2021)
DSD256 (.dsf) 1 bit/11,2 MHz | Time – 01:00:48 minutes | 9,6 GB
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:00:48 minutes | 924 MB
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Artwork: Digital booklet | © PentaTone

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.

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