The Early Years

David Garrett presented his first classical crossover album in Germany in November 2007 with "Virtuoso". Hardly anyone knew the 27-year-old violinist back then. Only a few months later, his name is already drawing hundreds of thousands of people into completely sold out halls. Garrett's image as a classical music rebel with the rough sex appeal of a rocker and the depth of expression of a highly sensitive virtuoso is well received.
In the perception of the general public, the newcomer's success seems to come suddenly and effortlessly. Within a few years David Garrett rises to become one of the most prominent people in Germany and also an international star. He even succeeds in making the step into the cinema. In 2013 he plays the leading role in "Der Teufelsgeiger", an elaborately produced film adaptation of the life of Niccolo Paganini.

Career as a child prodigy

The foundation for David Garrett's success story was laid early on: It is less well known that ten years before the release of "Virtuoso" he was already looking back on a first career as a musical prodigy, which he had given up in order to pursue his own path in a self-determined way. The new 5CD edition "David Garrett - The Early Years" is dedicated to this early phase of his life and all the recordings of the exceptional violinist made at that time.
Child prodigy. The term raises many questions. "Music is higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy", Ludwig van Beethoven formulated. Does the child possess the spiritual maturity and depth of mind to do justice to a masterpiece of classical music as an interpreter in Beethoven's sense? Everyone - parents, teachers, colleagues, experts and the public - agreed on the young David Garrett: his playing did not sound like that of a child. Yehudi Menuhin recognised the boy as the "greatest violinist of his generation".

Born in Aachen to German-American parents, David Garrett began playing the violin at the age of four. At ten he gave his first public concert with the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra. At the age of 13, Deutsche Grammophon signed him as the youngest exclusive artist in its history. Garrett spent the next four years in the studio, practicing and on concert tours in major European cities and Japan. He played with major orchestras and great conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Giuseppe Sinpoli, Herbert Blomstedt and Charles Dutoit, to name but a few.

Early recordings: 1995 - 1997

David Garrett's debut album will be released in October 1995 and the young talent will enthral the experts with brilliant performances of Beethoven's violin sonata no. "Spring Sonata", J.S. Bach's D minor Partita and Mozart's Adagio KV 261. "This young violinist must be called at least one phenomenon," enthuses music critic Wolf-Eberhard von Lewinski, "I am excited about the upcoming Mozart concert recording with Abbado," writes Gramophone's reviewer.
The album with Mozart's Violin Concertos Nos. 4 and 7 and the Violin Sonata in B flat major, recorded in 1994/1995 during a tour of Italy with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and conductor Claudio Abbado, will be released just a few weeks later. "[Garrett's] playing, with its full sound and intense vibrato, does not sound like that of a 15-year-old," judges BBC Music Magazine.

At the time of the agreement between Garrett's management and Deutsche Grammophon to dedicate the next recording to Niccolo Paganini's 24 Caprices, the young violinist had mastered only three of the technically highly demanding pieces. He has just two months until the scheduled recording session. Garrett goes to his physical limits for the album and sometimes even beyond, suffering from a slipped disc. But finally, accompanied by pianist Bruno Canino, he delivers a masterpiece which is released as planned in April 1997 and receives very good reviews. "The combination of youthful enthusiasm, fine recording and exceptional piano accompaniment makes this CD a smash hit," Gramophone Magazine states.

In October 1997 David Garrett travels to Russia for the recording of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major and Jules Conus' Violin Concerto in E Minor. Together with the Russian National Orchestra conducted by Mikhail Pletnev he will record these works in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. "For Garrett, the future has already begun," the magazine Audio announced. "To the innumerable recordings of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, he adds an emphatically lyrical one, which pushes the virtuoso aspect of the work into the background. Under Pletnev's baton, this concept also comes through in the catchy Conus Concerto".

The album "14″ will be released in March 2013. It has a fascinating background. Produced in April 1995, this virtuoso recital with pieces by Dvořák, Tchaikovsky, Schubert, Elgar and others was Garrett's third recording, made at the age of 14. It was not released at the time. "All these years I have not forgotten that there was still unreleased material of mine lying dormant," David Garrett wrote in the preface to his "lost" album. "For myself, it was incredible to look back and see what I was doing at that age."
               
All albums David Garrett recorded for Deutsche Grammophon between 1995 and 1997 are now appearing in a box for the first time. The 5CD edition "David Garrett - The Early Years" is a worthwhile purchase for anyone who wants to complete their picture of today's superstar or who wants to experience an exceptional talent in his early heyday.