Along with the likes of Heinrich Ignaz Biber and Johann Georg Pisendel, Franz Benda is another member of the class of Baroque composers who wrote (and performed) extensively for the virtuoso violin. Some of these names may seem somewhat unfamiliar, perhaps because they were not associated with the Italian school like Locatelli and Vivaldi. However, the Czech-born Benda in particular wrote some of the most spectacular and dazzling compositions for the violin to come out of the Baroque. Unlike many of his contemporaries, ...
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Along with the likes of Heinrich Ignaz Biber and Johann Georg Pisendel, Franz Benda is another member of the class of Baroque composers who wrote (and performed) extensively for the virtuoso violin. Some of these names may seem somewhat unfamiliar, perhaps because they were not associated with the Italian school like Locatelli and Vivaldi. However, the Czech-born Benda in particular wrote some of the most spectacular and dazzling compositions for the violin to come out of the Baroque. Unlike many of his contemporaries, however, Benda was known as much (perhaps more) for his soothing, cantabile middle movements as he was the more showy outer movements. Virtuoso compositions require virtuoso performances; Anton Steck has made a name for himself with his far-reaching recordings of virtuoso Baroque violin works, and with good reason. His technique is dazzling and more than sufficient to push each of these works to the absolute limit of tempo without so much as breaking a sweat. Steck's playing never comes...
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