BBC Music Magazine
September 2022
Instrumental Choice

Carolin Widmann (violin)

Hildegard: Spiritus Sanctus Vivificans
Enescu: Fantaisie concertante
Benjamin, G: Three Miniatures for Solo Violin
Ysaÿe: Sonata for solo violin in G major, Op. 27 No. 5
Hildegard: Spiritus Sanctus Vivificans
Bach, J S: Partita for solo violin No. 2 in D minor, BWV1004

German violinist Carolin Widmann's imaginative solo recital spans a thousand years of music history from Hildegard vom Bingen's antiphon Spiritus sanctus vivificans vita to Three Miniatures by George Benjamin. En route, Widman's "little encyclopaedia" embraces compositions by Eugne Ysae and George Enescu, pieces that brought new expressive possibilities to violin literature.

A radiant account of Bach's Partita No 2 in D minor rounds off the recording, made at Auditorio Studio Molo RSI in Lugano in July 2021 and produced by Manfred Eicher.

"L’Aurore is far greater than the sum of its parts...The album takes its name from the first movement of Ysaÿe’s fifth solo sonata, a work dedicated to his friend and former pupil Mathieu Crickboom. Widmann’s recording of this work is a timbral revelation." - BBC Music Magazine, September 2022.