Charles Auguste de Bériot: Violin Concerto No.4, 5, 6

Bust of Charles Auguste de Bériot from the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles.

 

(20 February 1802 – 8 April 1870) was a Belgian violinist, artist and composer.

 

 Violin Concerto No.4 in D minor, Op.46

Laurent Albrecht Breuninger – violin, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Frank Beermann

 

Violin Concerto No.5, in D major, Op.55

Philippe Quint (violin), Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Kirk Trevor (conductor)

 

Violin Concerto No. 6 in A Major, Op. 70 I. Allegro moderato

II. Allegretto

 

 

In 1810 he moved to France, where he studied violin with Jean-François Tiby, a pupil of Giovanni Battista Viotti. Bériot was performing publicly by age nine. He was later encouraged by Viotti himself and briefly worked with Pierre Baillot but did not embrace all their teachings. Bériot’s compositional and performance style made a synthesis of Niccolò Paganini’s virtuosic fireworks with the elegance and emotional sensitivity of the classic French tradition. De Bériot composed a great amount of violin music including ten concertos. Although these are now rarely heard, his pedagogical compositions are still of use for violin students. De Bériot's pioneering violin technique and Romantic style of composition make his concertos and etudes an important stepping stone for the serious violin student wishing to gain a firm foundation before studying the major concertos of the Romantic era.