The Strad magazine has chosen Antoine Tamestit as its cover star for their July issue which includes an illuminating five-page interview about Tamesit's new Bach recordings.
This year sees Tamestit release two albums of Bach arrangements: the Goldberg Variations with Trio Zimmerman which was released on the BIS record label in May; and a new album with Masato Suzuki of Bach Sonatas for Viola de Gamba and Harpsichord which will be released on Harmonia Mundi this August.
In the interview, Tamesit gives an insight into his relationship with the music of Bach and his approach to interpreting the music with different chamber music partners. Speaking about his performance with the harpsichord in the Viola de Gamba Sonatas, Tamestit remarked:
"…one has to deal with the contrapuntal writing that treats the viola as one of three equal parts. Most of the time, the viola is either the upper or middle voice, but occasionally it becomes the bass, and everything happens so fast that often you have to change roles from one note to the next, and seamlessly too.”
He also enthuses about his own instrument: the 1672 ‘Mahler’ Stradivari, one of only ten remaining Stradivari violas in the world, loaned by the Habisreutinger Foundation:
"Everybody says that this is the greatest viola in existence...I always feel there are two of us on stage. It's a symbiotic relationship, like that of a great couple - and it reminds me of my wife!"
Tamestit’s album, Bach: Goldberg Variations, with Trio Zimmerman is available to listen to on Spotify and to buy on the BIS website.
His album with Masato Suzuki, Bach Sonatas for Viola de Gamba and Harpsichord, will be released on 23 August.
To read the complete article, visit The Strad's website here.
Antoine Tamestit releases Jörg Widmann Viola Concerto on Harmonia Mundi
Antoine Tamestit's recording of Jörg Widmann Viola Concerto is released on Harmonia Mundi on 23 February 2018. Tamestit gave the world premiere of the concerto in 2015 with the Orchestre de Paris and Paavo Järvi. “One of the most gifted French musicians of the era,” wrote Le Figaro, “the work is made to measure for Tamestit, his style of playing, his tone, his personality.” The work was co-commissioned by the Swedish Radio Symphony and Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks with conductor Daniel Harding, who play on the recording.
As well as Widmann’s Viola Concerto, the disc features chamber works performed by Tamestit and Bruno Philippe, Marc Bouchkov and the Signum Quartet.
The theatrical concerto sees the soloist exploring a range of positions on the stage. Initially seated behind the harp players the soloist moves towards the centre of the orchestra and eventually ‘front and centre’ assuming the traditional position for the soloist.
Tamestit has already performed the concerto widely, and it has proved popular with audiences at subsequent performances with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra.
In February and March 2018, Tamestit and Harding performed the concerto on tour with the Orchestre de Paris in Paris, Vienna, Dortmund, Luxembourg, Cologne and Brussels.