Schumann: Violin Concerto | Isabelle Faust and the Freiburger Barockorchester

Isabelle Faust performs Robert Schumann’s Violin Concerto in D minor, WoO 1 together with the Freiburger Barockorchester (FBO) under conductor Pablo Heras Casado. The concert was held in May 2014 in the Berliner Philharmonie.

The Violin Concerto in D minor is the only concert for violin from Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856), and his last work for orchestra. Written in just two weeks in the Fall of 1853, its conception can be traced in part back to a suggestion from Joseph Joachim – one of the 19th century’s most significant violinists. It was never performed during Schumann’s lifetime; following a suicide attempt in Spring of 1854 he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, where he would pass away in 1856.

It was only in November 1937 that Schumann’s violin concert received its premiere. An extensively reworked version was played by the Berlin Philharmonic at a propaganda event by the National Socialists. The conductor was Karl Böhm; Georg Kulenkampff played solo violin.
The original version would first be performed in the USA in December, 1937, by Yehudi Menuhin.

For many long years, Schumann’s violin concert remained controversial, many believing they detected hints of the illness Schumann was living with – already public knowledge – in the piece. In the years since, however, it has become a standard in every violinist’s repertoire. It’s one of Isabelle Faust’s credits – she performed the violin concert for her debut with the Berliner Philharmonic in 2009.

The Freiburger Barockorchester (“Freiburg Baroque Orchestra”) was begun with a spontaneous idea that has since developed into a unique, musical success story. On New Year's Eve some 30 years ago, music students in Freiburg decided to form an orchestra dedicated exclusively to historically-informed performance practice, played on period instruments. The FBO performed its first concerts in the Freiburg region in 1987. Today, the orchestra has become world-famous. In addition to its own concert series in Freiburg, Stuttgart and Berlin, the FBO performs in the foremost international concert halls, and is considered one of the world’s most distinguished early-music ensembles.

(00:00) Vigoroso, ma non troppo presto
(16:05) Lento
(21:22) Animato, ma non presto

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