Editorís letter
This issue of The Strad is dedicated to the musicians and makers of Germany and Austria. Our cover star, the brilliant and versatile German violinist Arabella Steinbacher, speaks to Pauline Harding on page 26 about her upcoming recording of two deeply contrasting violin concertos: Beethoven’s – a cornerstone of the Classical repertoire – and a brand new concerto entitled ‘…to beam in distant heavens…’ written especially for her by the Luxembourg-born, Australian composer Georges Lentz (b.1965). Among other subjects, she talks about how she recorded the works on two extraordinary instruments, the 1744 ‘Sainton’ Guarneri ‘del Gesù’ and the 1718 ‘Benno Walter’ Stradivari respectively, and how her interpretation of the Beethoven Concerto has changed and matured over the past 20 years.