Brahms light

The Camerata Bern is a very agile, lively ensemble. Under the leadership of the passionately committed violinist Antje Weithaas, it has further distinguished itself, not only in terms of playing technique, but also in the original adaptation of chamber music works for string orchestra, such as Beethoven's String Quartet in F minor on the highly acclaimed Beethoven CD from 2012.

Weithaas has now presented a risk-taking Brahms recording with "her" Camerata. She has dared to play Brahms' Violin Concerto without a conductor, with Weithaas leading the orchestra as soloist. "I probably wouldn't have embarked on this adventure with another ensemble," she says. "We've gotten to know each other very well over the last few years, both musically and personally, and we now understand each other blindly."

Nevertheless, Brahms' violin concerto is complex and the instrumentation is "romantic", meaning it also features a lavish wind corps. The Camerata plays it with an unusually minimal string section, which is tricky, but the result is astonishing: the musicians' presence is highly concentrated, the chamber music challenge not only leads to greater transparency, but the sound balance between winds and strings is also surprisingly successful.

Antje Weithaas plays the solo part with a warm tone, full of energy and longing, she knows exactly what she wants to say and has a correspondingly multi-layered color palette. In close dialog with the orchestra, everything is also precisely in tune rhythmically. The lighter orchestra actually does the "compact" violin concerto a lot of good.

The ensemble takes the opposite approach in Brahms' String Quintet op. 111, with four violinists playing the two violin parts, plus two violists and two cellists. What was lighter in the violin concerto is now more lush here; the cello part in particular is extremely delicate when two musicians suddenly have to play it together.

The quintet copes well with this increase in volume. Certainly, in some passages the unfamiliar orchestral sound jumps out at you a little too directly. However, the broad sound of the slow movement is impressive, and the musicians play the Allegretto with light-footed elegance. The experiment has been a success, this CD recording is exciting and makes for an inspiring listening experience.