Molique, Bernhard: Violin Concertos No. 3 & 6

Bernard Molique (1802-69): Violinkoncerter nr. 3 & 6

Konzert für Violine Nr. 3 d-moll op. 10
1. Allegro 13:03
2. Andante 6:48
3. Rondo: Vivace 11:28

Konzert für Violine Nr. 6 e-moll op. 30
4. Allegro 14:14
5. Andnate 8:54
6. Rondo: Allegretto 10:57

Anton Steck - violin
L'arpa festante
Christoph Spering - dirigent

The virtuoso violinist Bernhard Molique (18021869)
was what is today called a child prodigy. At the age
of fifteen he performed violin concertos of Kreutzer and Rode in Munich; at 18 he was appointed
concertmaster there and, at the age of 24, took up a position as concertmaster in Stuttgart, where he
remained for almost a quarter of a century. This successful career was rounded off by a professorship at
the Royal Academy in London.
Contemporary critics praised the clarity, grace and purity of his playing, placing him on a par with
Paganini. Joseph Joachim, the star violinist and friend of Brahms, was firmly convinced that his concertos
would belong to "the basic repertoire of the literature" for all times. The works of Tchaikovsky, Brahms,
Schumann, Mendelssohn and Bruch have in fact attained this status, whereas those of Molique are
practically forgotten today.
Anton Steck – one of the leading German baroque violinists with a weakness for the romantics – has
taken on the task of changing this state of affairs. He has gone into the archive and dug up the violin
concertos of Molique. Having freed them from the dust of decades, he is now presenting – with the
support of L’arpa festante (on historical instruments) conducted by Christoph Spering – two concertos
that are not only able to convince listeners with their demanding, virtuoso violin parts, but can also
surprise them with their completely new treatment of the orchestra.