On this recording, Dutch violinist Niek Baar returns to the pieces that inspired him to become a violinist. Together with the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra, he has recorded some of the most wonderful violin repertoire ever written!

Niek and the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra perform music by Tchaikovsky, Ravel, Tartini, Dvořák and Kreisler. The connection between the musicians is palpable. Niek says that “The Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra played every moment as if we were playing the most intimate chamber music repertoire, and that inspired me to take risks, to go outside of my comfort zone, and perform as a whole with each other.”

Niek plays a magnificent and rare violin made in Cremona in 1729 by Carlo Bergonzi. On this recording produced by Jared Sacks, you hear the ‘core’ of the instrument, including all of the gritty elements that accompany the sweet, soprano tones that the violin is most famous for.