Press
Robert Schumann – Violin Sonatas Nos 1-3
BBC Music Magazine February 2014 by Jessica Duchen
There’s no doubting the rewarding partnership of Christian Tetzlaff and Lars Vogt in this admirable account. …and Tetzlaff is never afraid to take his tone right down to a whisper, enhancing the works‘ ever present shadows. There is exemplary tenderness, tempered at all times by good sense, even if sometimes head seems to dominate heart.
Gramophone January 2014 by Harriet Smith
Recording of the month
Anyone familiar with Christian Tetzlaff’s Gramophone Award-winning recording of Schumann’s piano trios will not be surprised to hear that this is every bit as compelling. … In fact, not only do they abound in vivacity and emotional power but structurally they are tautly written and innovative in their thinking. … They make an utterly convincing and absorbing case for it, embracing the drama of the deeply unnerving opening movement, imbuing it with real rhetorical power,… . Tetzlaff’s own understanding of Bach is a significant factor … and the first variation, now bowed, with a trickling piano accompaniment, has you holding your breath with wonder at the delicacy and apparent simplicity of it all.
And Tetzlaff, more than any other violinist around today, is utterly attuned to Schumann’s idiom in these later works: the mercurial changes of mood are conveyed as if they’re the most natural thing in the world,… .in fact: all three pieces were written at white heat … and that energy of the creative process is truly brought to life here. … Tetzlaff’s own understanding of Bach is a significant factor … and the first variation, now bowed, with a trickling piano accompaniment, has you holding your breath with wonder at the delicacy and apparent simplicity of it all. … But it’s not just in the more delicate moments that these players impress so much. The effect of the opening of the first movement of No 1 is of a spontaneously wrought nervosity but listen a little more closely and you become aware of the myriad colours and subtle phrasing at play here.
International Record Review December 2013 by Nigel Simeone
… In fact, throughout this disc, the responsiveness of both players to each other, the subtlety with which they shade phrases and the space they allow each other to become expansive and dreamy … is really absorbing. These are beautiful performances, notable for the inward-looking reflectiveness and the delicacy of the playing that never lacks eloquence at grander moments. in short, this is an excellent record by two exceptional artists, and it’s a very fine addition to the Schumann discography. … The recorded sound does the playing justice.
Aachener Zeitung Oktober 2013 von (ark)
Einen zärtlichen, fast durchsichtigen Ton wählt der Geiger Christian Tetzlaff für die Schuman-Sonate. … Nie gerät die emphatische Energie der Musik äußerlich, Robert Schumann kommen die wenigsten Geiger unserer Zeit so nah. …eine kleine Sensation.
klassik.com Oktober 2013 von Dr. Stefan Drees
Kontrollierte Glut, Poesie und Strenge
Christian Tetzlaff und Lars Vogt legen eine sehr ungewöhnliche, aber außerordentlich schlüssige Aufnahme von Schumanns Violinsonaten vor. … Dabei legen die Musiker gerade in WoO 27 auch viel Wert auf die Herausarbeitung von Schumanns Kanonkünste und verblüffen den Hörer mit einer Enthüllung ungewöhnlicher Bezüge. …aber es ist in der Gesamtheit extrem spannend, weil sich die Einspielung einerseits gegen eingefahrene Hörerwartungen wendet, andererseits aber auch Schumanns frühe Arbeiten in den späten Werken spiegelt. Mit anderen Worten: eine großartige Aufnahme, die ein ganz genaues Anhören lohnt.
Mozart Sonatas mit Lars Vogt
Fono Forum April 2013 von Christoph Vratz
Perfektes Duo
Sie kennen die Stücke bis in kleinste Details, sie lieben jede Wiederholung, jeden Triller, jede Phrase bis in ihre subtilen Abrundungen hinein. … Ob es sich bei dieser Einspielung um den Auftakt zu einer Gesamtaufnahme aller Mozart-Sonaten handelt, wird auch im Beiheft nicht geklärt. Der Hoffnung sei auf jeden Fall Nachdruck verliehen!
Grammophone February 2013 by Harriet Smith
Mozart sonatas with Vogt for Tetzlaff’s ondine debut
This disc brings together two musicians absolutely at the top of their game… . A delight from beginning to end. …
BBC music February 2013 by Bayan Northcott
Made for meaningful Mozart
… This often bar-by-bar alternation between joy and sadness, beauty and regret, in mature Mozart is something to which Christian Tetzlaff and Lars Vogt are continuously alive. …, their more general approach is unhurried, tender, feelingly nuanced, with Tetzlaff finding a different articulation and colour for his almost every phrase,… . Hardly ‘period’ performances, but these players find so much meaning in this music.
The Strad December 2012 by Robin Stowell
Generally attractive results from an accomplished Mozart duo
Christian Tetzlaff and Lars Vogt are sensitive Mozartians and their partnership here seems to be one made in heaven. … The recording has clarity and warmth.
dradio.de/dkultur November 2012
Radiofeuilleton: CD der Woche
Christian Tetzlaff und Lars Vogt harmonieren perfekt an Violine und Klavier. … Die beiden verbindet eine lange Freundschaft, die sich auch in der Interpretation von Mozarts Werken bemerkbar macht. (Label: Ondine)
Was soll man mehr bewundern – die anrührende Innigkeit, das Tiefempfundene ihres Spiels oder die ansteckende Freude, den Übermut den Tetzlaff und Vogt in diesen Sonaten verbreiten. Aus dieser Aufnahme spricht eine unendliche Liebe und Zärtlichkeit für Mozarts Musik – stellenweise fast schon, im besten Sinne, romantisch, aber nie die Klarheit der musikalischen Sprache aus den Augen verlierend. (von Mascha Drost)
Die Aufnahme ist nicht nur das Ergebnis eines langen, intensiven Nachdenkens über Mozart, sie ist auch ein Fest der Freundschaft. …- alles ist stimmig, tiefgründig, geschmackvoll. Man erlebt die Schönheiten in Mozarts Sonaten, als kämen sie nicht aus finsterer Vergangenheit, sondern als seien sie das Resultat einer gegenwärtigen Freundschaft. (von Haino Rindler)
hr2-kultur November 2012 von Gisela Walther
der CD-Tipp
… Große Heiterkeit und tiefe, innigste Empfindung auf engstem Raum, gerade das schätzen Lars Vogt und Christian Tetzlaff an der Musik Mozarts. Wunderbar zu hören ist das in der Sonate für Klavier und Violine A-Dur, KV 526… . …, die anschließende Niederschrift seiner Sonaten zeugt immer von einem durchdachten Komponieren, in dem Tetzlaff und Vogt voll und ganz aufgehen. … Bitte noch mehr Mozart-Sonaten.
Sydney Symphony Orchestra / Mendelssohn VC at Sydney Opera House
bachtrack.com by Zoltán Szabó, 12. Februar 2015
Romantic masterworks of good friends and billiard partners: Schumann and Mendelssohn in Sydney
[…] It would be superficial to speak about his ‘artistic’ or ‘virtuosic’ playing, for Tetzlaff seemed to identify with the spirit and meaning of the concerto rather than a performance of it. In perfect physical symbiosis with his instrument (not a famed, old Italian instrument but a modern German violin, made by Stefan-Peter Greiner – what a resounding argument for the sound craftsmanship of our days!), his expressive body language, his utter concentration and his impeccable musicianship left no argument about the exclusive validity of the performance. […]
Melbourne Recital Centre / 15th Feb 2015
Classic Melbourne by Suzanne Yanko
[…] who left the audience breathless. Many would remember Tetzlaff’s performance of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto two years but an entire evening of solo violin could be quite a different matter. […] there was applause, acknowledged by Tetzlaff with a smile. What followed was demanding of a violinist’s skills in every way, but apparently no presenting no difficulty for the performer.[…] As with the previous work the slow movement gave the impression of two violins with a contrast of strength and lighter faster notes. It was hard to imagine how this work could be better played. […] The finale was taken at breakneck speed, yet with a rhythmic sense. This was music written for a soloist of Tetzlaff’s brilliance and he did not disappoint. […] There was only one possible direction for the demanded encore to take. Bach, a slow movement, played beautifully and honestly with no pyrotechnics needed. A great performance indeed from a great performer.
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra / Michael Tilson Thomas, 14th, 16th and 17th May 2014, Bartok 2nd Violin Concerto
San Francisco Chronicle by Joshua Kosman
[…] Tetzlaff joined Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony for a superb performance of Bartók’s Second Violin Concerto. This was a virtuoso display of technical bravura and emotional eloquence, all wrapped into one beautifully integrated package. […] Tetzlaff seemed to have all of these tonal shifts directly at his fingertips, moving from one mood to another with effortless ease – and, more important, helping the listener hear the connections among the concerto’s disparate strains. […] In the slow movement, Tetzlaff rose to even greater heights, probing the molodic contours of the main theme in ways that made each successive variation sound both surprising and logical. The finale, in which the orchestra plays its most important role,brought the concerto to a close in a flurry of showmanship. […]
Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, 5th and 06th April 2014, Schostakovich’s First Violin Concerto
Saint Louis Post Dispatch, April 7th 2014 – Robertson and friend provide power and beauty – by Sarah Bryan Miller
[…] Tetzlaff was phenomenal, preforming in a manner that had to be seen as well as heard in order to be believed. His technique is astonishing, as is his stamina, in a work that runs three-quarters of an hour and keeps its soloist hopping for most of the time. […]
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Joseph Joachim Violin Concerto at Carnegie Hall New York
The New York Times, 31st March 2014 – A Hungarian Sampler, Lighthearted to Brooding by Vivien Schweitzer
[…] Joachim’s concerto, about 50 minutes long, isn’t as structurally cohesive as the Brahms and Bruch concertos. (He performed both of their premiers.) But it is full of dark-hued melodies and richly scored orchestral interludes, played with bristling fervor by the excellent Orpheus musicians. Mr. Tetzlaff proved charismatic, imbuing his part with a burnished sound and soulful allure and deftly navigating the whirlwind passagework of the “Gypsy” finale. […]
Christian Tetzlaff and Lars Vogt in Boston
Boston Classical Review, 31st March 2014 – Tetzlaff, Vogt bring illumination and intensity to duo recital by Aaron Keebaugh
[…] Yet this is music of arresting beauty. The whistling tones that Tetzlaff pulled from his violin hovered in midair. Vogt’s scattered chords left harmonics in their wake, the sound circling overhead like a halo. The soaring line of Bewegt, the fourth of the set, died away into brittle tones in a single melodic arch – compressed romanticism at its finest.The show-stopper of the afternoon was Bartók’s Violin Sonata No. 1, which featured the duo in equally rich and adventurous territory.
[…] Yet this turbulent music breaks frequently into spry themes and passages of warm lyricism. Tetzlaff and Vogt supplied lovely singing tone for the aria and variations of the Adagio. The Scherzo, taken at a brisk pace, had the romp of a Ländler, and their sparkling reading of the finale put the exclamation point on the afternoon’s program. […]
Boston Globe, 01st April 2014 – With Christian Tetzlaff and Lars Vogt, everything sounds bigger and better – by David Weininger
[…] When the violinist Christian Tetzlaff and pianist Lars Vogt reached this passage in their Sunday recital at Jordan Hall, several things happened. Tetzlaff’s tone darkened substantially, the tempo slowed a bit, and he and Vogt expanded the dynamic range, so that each dissonance seemed like a cry of pain. When the music shifted back to the major, it was as though dawn had broken after a long night.
[…] But what was most remarkable was that there was no moment in this entire, familiar, piece that didn’t convey a sense of total creative investment. […]
Press
Robert Schumann – Violin Sonatas Nos 1-3
BBC Music Magazine February 2014 by Jessica Duchen
There’s no doubting the rewarding partnership of Christian Tetzlaff and Lars Vogt in this admirable account. …and Tetzlaff is never afraid to take his tone right down to a whisper, enhancing the works‘ ever present shadows. There is exemplary tenderness, tempered at all times by good sense, even if sometimes head seems to dominate heart.
Gramophone January 2014 by Harriet Smith
Recording of the month
Anyone familiar with Christian Tetzlaff’s Gramophone Award-winning recording of Schumann’s piano trios will not be surprised to hear that this is every bit as compelling. … In fact, not only do they abound in vivacity and emotional power but structurally they are tautly written and innovative in their thinking. … They make an utterly convincing and absorbing case for it, embracing the drama of the deeply unnerving opening movement, imbuing it with real rhetorical power,… . Tetzlaff’s own understanding of Bach is a significant factor … and the first variation, now bowed, with a trickling piano accompaniment, has you holding your breath with wonder at the delicacy and apparent simplicity of it all.
And Tetzlaff, more than any other violinist around today, is utterly attuned to Schumann’s idiom in these later works: the mercurial changes of mood are conveyed as if they’re the most natural thing in the world,… .in fact: all three pieces were written at white heat … and that energy of the creative process is truly brought to life here. … Tetzlaff’s own understanding of Bach is a significant factor … and the first variation, now bowed, with a trickling piano accompaniment, has you holding your breath with wonder at the delicacy and apparent simplicity of it all. … But it’s not just in the more delicate moments that these players impress so much. The effect of the opening of the first movement of No 1 is of a spontaneously wrought nervosity but listen a little more closely and you become aware of the myriad colours and subtle phrasing at play here.
International Record Review December 2013 by Nigel Simeone
… In fact, throughout this disc, the responsiveness of both players to each other, the subtlety with which they shade phrases and the space they allow each other to become expansive and dreamy … is really absorbing. These are beautiful performances, notable for the inward-looking reflectiveness and the delicacy of the playing that never lacks eloquence at grander moments. in short, this is an excellent record by two exceptional artists, and it’s a very fine addition to the Schumann discography. … The recorded sound does the playing justice.
Aachener Zeitung Oktober 2013 von (ark)
Einen zärtlichen, fast durchsichtigen Ton wählt der Geiger Christian Tetzlaff für die Schuman-Sonate. … Nie gerät die emphatische Energie der Musik äußerlich, Robert Schumann kommen die wenigsten Geiger unserer Zeit so nah. …eine kleine Sensation.
klassik.com Oktober 2013 von Dr. Stefan Drees
Kontrollierte Glut, Poesie und Strenge
Christian Tetzlaff und Lars Vogt legen eine sehr ungewöhnliche, aber außerordentlich schlüssige Aufnahme von Schumanns Violinsonaten vor. … Dabei legen die Musiker gerade in WoO 27 auch viel Wert auf die Herausarbeitung von Schumanns Kanonkünste und verblüffen den Hörer mit einer Enthüllung ungewöhnlicher Bezüge. …aber es ist in der Gesamtheit extrem spannend, weil sich die Einspielung einerseits gegen eingefahrene Hörerwartungen wendet, andererseits aber auch Schumanns frühe Arbeiten in den späten Werken spiegelt. Mit anderen Worten: eine großartige Aufnahme, die ein ganz genaues Anhören lohnt.
Mozart Sonatas mit Lars Vogt
Fono Forum April 2013 von Christoph Vratz
Perfektes Duo
Sie kennen die Stücke bis in kleinste Details, sie lieben jede Wiederholung, jeden Triller, jede Phrase bis in ihre subtilen Abrundungen hinein. … Ob es sich bei dieser Einspielung um den Auftakt zu einer Gesamtaufnahme aller Mozart-Sonaten handelt, wird auch im Beiheft nicht geklärt. Der Hoffnung sei auf jeden Fall Nachdruck verliehen!
Grammophone February 2013 by Harriet Smith
Mozart sonatas with Vogt for Tetzlaff’s ondine debut
This disc brings together two musicians absolutely at the top of their game… . A delight from beginning to end. …
BBC music February 2013 by Bayan Northcott
Made for meaningful Mozart
… This often bar-by-bar alternation between joy and sadness, beauty and regret, in mature Mozart is something to which Christian Tetzlaff and Lars Vogt are continuously alive. …, their more general approach is unhurried, tender, feelingly nuanced, with Tetzlaff finding a different articulation and colour for his almost every phrase,… . Hardly ‘period’ performances, but these players find so much meaning in this music.
The Strad December 2012 by Robin Stowell
Generally attractive results from an accomplished Mozart duo
Christian Tetzlaff and Lars Vogt are sensitive Mozartians and their partnership here seems to be one made in heaven. … The recording has clarity and warmth.
dradio.de/dkultur November 2012
Radiofeuilleton: CD der Woche
Christian Tetzlaff und Lars Vogt harmonieren perfekt an Violine und Klavier. … Die beiden verbindet eine lange Freundschaft, die sich auch in der Interpretation von Mozarts Werken bemerkbar macht. (Label: Ondine)
Was soll man mehr bewundern – die anrührende Innigkeit, das Tiefempfundene ihres Spiels oder die ansteckende Freude, den Übermut den Tetzlaff und Vogt in diesen Sonaten verbreiten. Aus dieser Aufnahme spricht eine unendliche Liebe und Zärtlichkeit für Mozarts Musik – stellenweise fast schon, im besten Sinne, romantisch, aber nie die Klarheit der musikalischen Sprache aus den Augen verlierend. (von Mascha Drost)
Die Aufnahme ist nicht nur das Ergebnis eines langen, intensiven Nachdenkens über Mozart, sie ist auch ein Fest der Freundschaft. …- alles ist stimmig, tiefgründig, geschmackvoll. Man erlebt die Schönheiten in Mozarts Sonaten, als kämen sie nicht aus finsterer Vergangenheit, sondern als seien sie das Resultat einer gegenwärtigen Freundschaft. (von Haino Rindler)
hr2-kultur November 2012 von Gisela Walther
der CD-Tipp
… Große Heiterkeit und tiefe, innigste Empfindung auf engstem Raum, gerade das schätzen Lars Vogt und Christian Tetzlaff an der Musik Mozarts. Wunderbar zu hören ist das in der Sonate für Klavier und Violine A-Dur, KV 526… . …, die anschließende Niederschrift seiner Sonaten zeugt immer von einem durchdachten Komponieren, in dem Tetzlaff und Vogt voll und ganz aufgehen. … Bitte noch mehr Mozart-Sonaten.
Sydney Symphony Orchestra / Mendelssohn VC at Sydney Opera House
bachtrack.com by Zoltán Szabó, 12. Februar 2015
Romantic masterworks of good friends and billiard partners: Schumann and Mendelssohn in Sydney
[…] It would be superficial to speak about his ‘artistic’ or ‘virtuosic’ playing, for Tetzlaff seemed to identify with the spirit and meaning of the concerto rather than a performance of it. In perfect physical symbiosis with his instrument (not a famed, old Italian instrument but a modern German violin, made by Stefan-Peter Greiner – what a resounding argument for the sound craftsmanship of our days!), his expressive body language, his utter concentration and his impeccable musicianship left no argument about the exclusive validity of the performance. […]
Melbourne Recital Centre / 15th Feb 2015
Classic Melbourne by Suzanne Yanko
[…] who left the audience breathless. Many would remember Tetzlaff’s performance of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto two years but an entire evening of solo violin could be quite a different matter. […] there was applause, acknowledged by Tetzlaff with a smile. What followed was demanding of a violinist’s skills in every way, but apparently no presenting no difficulty for the performer.[…] As with the previous work the slow movement gave the impression of two violins with a contrast of strength and lighter faster notes. It was hard to imagine how this work could be better played. […] The finale was taken at breakneck speed, yet with a rhythmic sense. This was music written for a soloist of Tetzlaff’s brilliance and he did not disappoint. […] There was only one possible direction for the demanded encore to take. Bach, a slow movement, played beautifully and honestly with no pyrotechnics needed. A great performance indeed from a great performer.
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra / Michael Tilson Thomas, 14th, 16th and 17th May 2014, Bartok 2nd Violin Concerto
San Francisco Chronicle by Joshua Kosman
[…] Tetzlaff joined Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony for a superb performance of Bartók’s Second Violin Concerto. This was a virtuoso display of technical bravura and emotional eloquence, all wrapped into one beautifully integrated package. […] Tetzlaff seemed to have all of these tonal shifts directly at his fingertips, moving from one mood to another with effortless ease – and, more important, helping the listener hear the connections among the concerto’s disparate strains. […] In the slow movement, Tetzlaff rose to even greater heights, probing the molodic contours of the main theme in ways that made each successive variation sound both surprising and logical. The finale, in which the orchestra plays its most important role,brought the concerto to a close in a flurry of showmanship. […]
Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, 5th and 06th April 2014, Schostakovich’s First Violin Concerto
Saint Louis Post Dispatch, April 7th 2014 – Robertson and friend provide power and beauty – by Sarah Bryan Miller
[…] Tetzlaff was phenomenal, preforming in a manner that had to be seen as well as heard in order to be believed. His technique is astonishing, as is his stamina, in a work that runs three-quarters of an hour and keeps its soloist hopping for most of the time. […]
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Joseph Joachim Violin Concerto at Carnegie Hall New York
The New York Times, 31st March 2014 – A Hungarian Sampler, Lighthearted to Brooding by Vivien Schweitzer
[…] Joachim’s concerto, about 50 minutes long, isn’t as structurally cohesive as the Brahms and Bruch concertos. (He performed both of their premiers.) But it is full of dark-hued melodies and richly scored orchestral interludes, played with bristling fervor by the excellent Orpheus musicians. Mr. Tetzlaff proved charismatic, imbuing his part with a burnished sound and soulful allure and deftly navigating the whirlwind passagework of the “Gypsy” finale. […]
Christian Tetzlaff and Lars Vogt in Boston
Boston Classical Review, 31st March 2014 – Tetzlaff, Vogt bring illumination and intensity to duo recital by Aaron Keebaugh
[…] Yet this is music of arresting beauty. The whistling tones that Tetzlaff pulled from his violin hovered in midair. Vogt’s scattered chords left harmonics in their wake, the sound circling overhead like a halo. The soaring line of Bewegt, the fourth of the set, died away into brittle tones in a single melodic arch – compressed romanticism at its finest.The show-stopper of the afternoon was Bartók’s Violin Sonata No. 1, which featured the duo in equally rich and adventurous territory.
[…] Yet this turbulent music breaks frequently into spry themes and passages of warm lyricism. Tetzlaff and Vogt supplied lovely singing tone for the aria and variations of the Adagio. The Scherzo, taken at a brisk pace, had the romp of a Ländler, and their sparkling reading of the finale put the exclamation point on the afternoon’s program. […]
Boston Globe, 01st April 2014 – With Christian Tetzlaff and Lars Vogt, everything sounds bigger and better – by David Weininger
[…] When the violinist Christian Tetzlaff and pianist Lars Vogt reached this passage in their Sunday recital at Jordan Hall, several things happened. Tetzlaff’s tone darkened substantially, the tempo slowed a bit, and he and Vogt expanded the dynamic range, so that each dissonance seemed like a cry of pain. When the music shifted back to the major, it was as though dawn had broken after a long night.
[…] But what was most remarkable was that there was no moment in this entire, familiar, piece that didn’t convey a sense of total creative investment. […]
