"The cycle completed with the third CD can be considered a reference recording. (...) Not highly polished, not self-promoting, but permeable to the freedom that Beethoven takes for himself and demands for all people. With a warmth that other interpretations lack, Beethoven the person becomes sound. (...) Two people have come together here who no longer have to prove their profound knowledge of the work and interpretative subtlety, and who give both away like a rich harvest to connoisseurs and new discoverers alike," says the jury's statement for the German Record Critics' Award 2024.
The third and final part of Antje Weithaas' recording of all of Beethoven's violin sonatas with Dénes Várjon has already received rave reviews, just like the two previous CDs. Gramophone magazine, which presents the recording as Editor's Choice, raves about the double CD: "Weithaas and Várjon allow you to learn, listen and love as never before."
Antje Weithaas and Dénes Várjon have presented sonatas 1, 5, 6 and 10 on the final part of the complete recording, which was released by the CAvi label at the end of May 2024. The first two recordings of Beethoven violin sonatas had already met with enthusiastic reactions. Shortly after its release, the second album was named Album of the Week and finally Album of the Year (chamber music) by BR Klassik. Reviewer Meret Forster describes the CD, which juxtaposes the third sonata from the early Opus 12 group of works with the two sonatas 7 and 8 from Opus 30, as "simply fascinating" and "a must, not only for chamber music fans".
On 12 December 2023, Antje Weithaas also played her long-awaited debut at the Pierre Boulez Saal with Enrico Pace at the piano, who had stepped in at short notice for Dénes Várjon, who was ill, and the programme also included Beethoven. Andreas Göbel noted in rbb Kultur: "She not only masters the entire spectrum of artistic mastery - she also utilises it mercilessly. And in recent times she has clearly catapulted herself to the top. (...) Antje Weithaas, and that is certain, is not just a violinist, she is a musician, and currently one of the best."
The very next day, she was a live guest on NDR Kultur EXTRA in Hamburg - the programme is still available in the media library. The daily newspaper Tagesspiegel also devoted a detailed portrait to the violinist in December.
The first CD of the complete recording already received excellent reviews. The online magazine concerti was enthusiastic about the CD with the sonatas no. 2, 4 and 9 (Kreutzer): "The first cast is already highly captivating (...) Full of temperament and yet everything finely honed, razor-sharp. Virtuosity arises quasi incidentally here."
Ludwig van Beethoven, Violin Sonatas Vol. 1
CAVI 42 6008553512 5
Release date 14 April 2023
Ludwig van Beethoven, Violin Sonatas Vol. 2
CAVI 42 6008553535 4
Release date 27 October 2023
Ludwig van Beethoven, Violin Sonatas Vol. 3
CAVI 42 6008553508 8
Release date 24 May 2024
