Christian Tetzlaff
Pau Casals International Music Festival
El Vendrell 2025
The violin and its challenges
(FIMPC 2025 – VIII)
Friday, July 18, 2025
8th Concert
Pau Casals Auditorium
El Vendrell
Concert Review
Tetzlaff offered a display of virtuosity with a delightful and demanding program. Christian Tetzlaff is a virtuoso violinist, but his virtuosity serves the music to communicate emotions and feelings; it is not merely a demonstration of technical skill, but a demonstration of musical knowledge and interpretive ability in service to the composer
Christian Tetzlaff
Johann Sebastian Bach(1685 - 1750)
Sonata for solo violin
C major BWV 1005
III - Largo
Shared on YouTube
by HR-Sinfonieorchester - Frankfurt Radio Symphony
September 21, 2024
The concert program
Eugène Ysaÿe (1858 – 1931)
Sonata No. 1 in G minor,
dedicated to Joseph Szigeti (1892 – 1973)
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750)
Partita No. 2 ,
in D minor, BWV 1004
György Kurtág (1926)
Sings, Games and Messages
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750))
Sonata No. 3,
in C major, BWV 1005
The heart of the concert: Bach and the influence of Bach
Bach was present throughout the concert, either as a composer or as an object of admiration for the other composers.
Bach is present in Eugene Ysaÿe's (1858 – 1931) composition dedicated to Joseph Szigeti (1892 – 1973),a violinist specializing in Bach.
This work is part of a set of six sonatas composed in 1923. Ysayë was passionate about Bach, and it is said that he composed his six sonatas as a mirror of Bach's six sonatas.
It's interesting to note that Bach, in addition to playing the harpsichord, also played the violin. It was Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714–1788) who explained this to Johann Nikolaus Forkel[*] (1749–1818) in a letter. You can read it on the LA Phil’s website.
"In his youth, and until the approach of old age, he played the violin cleanly and penetratingly, and thus kept the orchestra in better order than he could have done with the harpsichord. He understood to perfection the possibilities of all stringed instruments. This is evidenced by his solos for the violin and for the violoncello without bass. One of the greatest violinists once told me that he had seen nothing more perfect for learning to be a good violinist, and could suggest nothing better to anyone eager to learn, than the said violin solos without bass."
It is also worth noting that Ysaÿe believed that a violinist, in addition to great technical skill, had to be aware of the wide range of emotions that must be expressed through performance. Tetzlaff's interpretation adapts perfectly within this concept.
[*] Forkel was Bach's first biographer. His work, "Johann Sebastian Bach: His Life, Art, and Work," was published 52 years after Bach's death, and it can be said that this book initiated the recovery of Johann Sebastian Bach's memory and work.
Christian Tetzlaff
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750)
Partita No. 2, en D minor, BWV 1004
V - Chacone
Shared on YouTube by Christian Tetzlaff Tema
Provided by Naxos of America
September 7, 2017
Johannes Brahms (1833–1897) said that Bach's Chaconne from Partita No. 2 was, in his opinion, "one of the most wonderful and incomprehensible pieces." We can certainly say that it is a beautiful piece, yet technically and expressively demanding.
György Kurtág (1926), another enthusiast of Bach's work, created a piece within his cycle of "Tributes" dedicated "Homage to JSB." This piece is part of the collection, "Signs, Games and Messages."
Christian Tetzlaff
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750)
Sonata No. 3 en C major, BWV 1005
Largo i Allegro assai
Shared on YouTube by The 92nd Street Y. New York
July 7, 2014
Bach's Sonata No. 3 is technically complex yet musically profound. It is a challenging piece to perform because it features both contrapuntal writing and a four-voice texture.
The title of the concert
The title perfectly described the concert because, as has been shown in previous paragraphs, it was a true challenge.
L'intèrpret
“Tetzlaff is pushing for the maximum... more intensity is not possible.”
Süddeutsche Zeitung
““one of the most brilliant and inquisitive artists of the new generation ”
The New York Times
Christian Tetzlaff (1966) was born in Hamburg. He began studying violin and piano at the age of six, but from the age of 14, he focused on violin studies.
Conservatory with Uwe-Martin Haiberg, to whom he attributes his musical perspective: "Musical interpretation is the key to technique, not the other way around.".
He subsequently moved to the University of Cincinnati College of Music to study with Walter Levine. He participated in the Marlboro Festival in Vermont for two summers.
Christian Tetzlaff
SWR Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Juraj Valčuh
Josef Suks (1874 - 1935)
Fantasie for Violin and Orchestra in G minor
Shared on YouTube by ARD Klassik
March 10, 2026
In 1994, she founded the Tetzlaff Quartet with her sister, cellist Tanja Tetzlaff, and violinists Hanna Weinmeister and Elisabeth Kufferach. He also performs in a trio format with his sister and pianist Kiveli Dörken.
This season (25/26) he is artist-in-residence with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the city where he lives. This season's program includes the world premiere in Paris of Ondrej Adamek's (1979) Violin Concerto No. 2.
Tetzlaff teaches at the Kronberg Academy, one of the most prestigious music schools in the world.
The school's motto is a quote from Casals: "art in service of humanity." In 2022, the Kronberg Academy Foundation created a space for teaching, studying, and performing, with an exceptional chamber music hall, that is also carbon neutral emissions. This space is called the "Casals Forum."
Discography
His discograpphy is very extensive. It includes works ranging from Johann Sebastian Bach to contemporary musicians like Witold Lutosławski (1913 – 1994) or Jörg Widmann (1973).
Awards
He has received numerous awards both individually and as part of the Tetzlaff Quartet. These include the Echo Klassik in 2017, awarded by the Deutsche Phono Akademie (the German Recording Industry Association), for his album of Johannes Brahms's (1833-1897) Violin Sonatas Nos. 1-3, recorded with Lars Vogt (1970). This same album was nominated for an ICMA award that same year. Also in 2017, he received the Würth Prize for his exceptional performances and his commitment to promoting classical music, especially among young people.
ICMA had previously awarded Tetzlaff the Artist of the Year award in 2015. In 2018 he received the award given by Gramophone Magazine for the live recording of Béla Bartók's violin concertos 1 and 2 with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hannu Lintu (1967).
In 2025 he received the Gramophone Award for the album of Piano Quartets by Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897) together with Lars Vogt (piano), Barbara Buntrock (viola) and Tanja Tetzlaff (cello). He has also received the 2018 Annual Award from the Alte Landtag Oldenburg German Record Critics' Award) from the album of Sonatas and Partitas for violin BWV 1001 - 1006 by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750). He won an award, “Diapason d’Or” 2017 in Paris. He was also chosen as Instrumentalist of the Year by Musical America in 2005. He has been nominated forGrammy Awards three times: This very month of June, and as an example of the recognition that Christian Tetzlaff has as a musician,The Strad has dedicated its cover and a report to him. Tetzlaff was another musician who reacted to Donald Trump's policies by canceling his 2025 US tour. Tetzlaff stated: "Music conveys messages about the human condition, empathy, and the heart. We must defend those ideals." His violin is a work of Stefan-Peter Greiner (1966), according to a Guarnieri del Gesù design. (Giuseppe Guarnieri del Gesù, 1698 - 1744). María Dolores García Martínez
Christian Tetzlaff
Lars Vogt (1970 - 2022), piano
Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897)
Sonata for violin No. 1 in G major, Op. 78
I - Vivace ma non troppo
Shared on YouTube by Christian Tetzlaff Tema
Jamuary 29, 2017
Christian Tetzlaff
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Hannu Litu (1967)
Béla Bartók (1881 - 1945)
Violin Concert No. 1
I - Andante sostenuto
II - Allegro giocoso
Shared on YouTube by Passion For Violin
May 7, 2020
Music and Peace
Christian Tetzlaff
Deutsche Kammerphilarmonie Bremen
conducted by Paavo Järvi (1962)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Adagio for a violin and orchestra in E major, K. 261
Shared on YouTube by Passion For Violin
May 4, 2020
Tetzlaff's violin
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