Track Listing

1. Vivace
2. Largo ma non tanto
3. Allegro
4. Allegro moderato
5. Andante
6. Allegro assai
7. Allegro
8. Adagio
9. Allegro assai
10. Allegro
11. Adagio
12. Allegro

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4398 in Music
• Brand: Amf
• Released on: 2009-01-27
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Album Description
Voted "Best Newcomer" by BBC Music Magazine in 2006 and acclaimed as "Artist of the Year" in the prestigious Classic FM Gramophone Awards only a year later, 25-year-old Julia Fischer is already being hailed as one of the truly great violinists of the 21st century. Julia burst upon the international music scene at the 1995 International Yehudi Menuhin Competition by taking first prize as well as a special prize for "Best Bach Solo Work." It is only natural then that her Decca debut disc should feature Bach--this time the solo and double concertos. Julia is joined by the Academy of St Martin in the Fields in these strikingly sophisticated and technically brilliant performances.

New York Times
"Technically her playing was impressively accomplished and elegant, richly varied in colorings. In long-spanned, calmly lyrical phrases her luminous and true tone soared..."

The Times
"Across the world thrusting young violinists are two a penny, but there is only Julia Fischer."

Customer Reviews

JULIA FISCHER's BRILLIANT BACH CONCERTOs: WITH THE A.S.M.
Five WONDERFUL Stars!! Superb performances! Award-winning German violin virtuoso Julia Fischer once again demonstrates her great empathy with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach performing his violin concertos on her Decca debut. Here she records with the vaunted Academy of St Martin in the Fields chamber group with whom she has previously recorded and toured, but this time sans conductor, as Fischer herself ascends to the role of leader. Ms Fischer in an interview says she is "Playing for the people of the 21st Century" and she respectfully puts her stamp on these incandescent performances. The 25 year old Ms Fischer has loved and played Bach from age 4, won the Yehudi Menuhin violin competition at age 11 (with special prize for the Best Bach solo), and most recently she recorded J.S. Bach: Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, BWV 1001-1006.

This CD presents different facets for the listener to enjoy: Julia's individual interpretations, her duo interaction with oboe and second violin, and A.S.M. group dynamics, all courtesy of the awesome genius of Bach. Ms Fischer's beautiful sound and bowed fireworks are well-integrated into the orchestra emerging from alongside the tutti as principal voice and then blending back again. The 'piece de resistance' is the Double Violin Concerto. The second violinist is Fischer's friend and former Menuhin competitor Sasha Sitkovetsky and they make wonderful ethereal music on their similar time-frame Guadagnini violins, especially the Allegro and Largo Ma non Tanto movements which are contrapuntally mesmerizing. But there is so much more, such as the stately elegance in the Andante movement and the Allegro Assai of the concerto in A minor. The lyrical beauty of the Adagio movement of Violin Concerto No 2 has Ms Fischer's purity of tone set against the continuo. In the D minor concerto for oboe, strings, and violin, the oboist is the superb Andrey Rubtsov and with Ms Fischer the concerto becomes one of pure exultation in the two Allegro movements and placid beauty in the Adagio movement. Julia Fischer is one of the supreme interpreters of Bach and among the most brilliant violin virtuosos of this century. Kudos to Julia, guests, and the A.S.M: great colloborations!! My Highest Recommendation. Five BIG Stars.
(This review is based on an iTunes Plus download)
Trivia: Julia Fischer has won all 8 competitions that she entered: 5 in classical violin and 3 in classical piano. Quite a feat!)

Magnificient performance
I bought this recording at intermission after hearing Ms Fischer play with the Academy St. Martin in the Fields at the Vilar Center in Beaver Creek a couple of weeks ago. It was magical to be in such a small theatre with ASM and Julia Fischer's playing of Bach was riveting. We listened to this recording solidly for the next week and loved it each time. Highly recommended.

Stylish Bach violin concertos
Until a few weeks ago, Julia Fischer was an unknown violinist to me. I have fallen in love with her playing. These concertos are crisp, precise, quick, light, and full of the spirit of dance. There is a wonderful balance between early performance style and expressivity. Fischer does a wonderful job of varying the color of repeated themes and phrases within a coherent vision of the pieces. It helps her case, of course, that she is playing with the sublime Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, which clearly shares her approach to these concertos.