Bruch Violin No 2

Randall Goosby presents his new album with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. He has recorded the popular Violin Concerto by Max Bruch and the two Violin Concertos by Florence Price. The album also includes Price's Adoration in an arrangement for string ensemble.

I have often wondered whether Brahms was being somewhat disingenuous in claiming that the slow first movement of Bruch's Second Violin Concerto was 'intolerable for normal people'. With its radiant lyricism and powerful melodic ideas, this is surely one of Bruch's loveliest conceptions, on a par with the much better- known First Concerto. Yet performers certainly need to be aware of Bruch's specific tempo marking of Adagio non troppo if the movement isn't to drag unduly. Lydia Mordkovitch, taking over three minutes longer than the excellent rival version from Nai-Yuan Hu on Delos, just about avoids falling into this trap through the sheer intensity and wonderful range of colours in her playing, though the turgid contribution from Hickox and the LSO does little favour for Bruch's full-blooded orchestration.

From the dozens and dozens of recordings availible for this piece, I have to say this is probably the best one I have ever heard. Especially from someone like me, who has about nine recordings of every violin concerto ever written. I have, among others, a Pearlman, Zukerman, and Mutter recording of this peice, yet this seemingly unknown recording has a unique characteristic: Ms. Suwanai's cleaniliness of the notes and preciceness of the music.

Kennedy has shrewdly augmented the regular concerto coupling of Bruch and Mendelssohn with the rare Schubert work, and the result is a generous issue which on every front can be warmly recommended for exceptionally strong and positive performances, vividly recorded. The Rondo in A, D438, dating from 1816, the year of his Concertstuck in D for violin and orchestra, was originally written for solo violin accompanied by string quartet.

A highly versatile musician, Ulf Wallin has recorded a succession of discs for BIS, including music by Schoenberg, Schnittke, Janacek and Hindemith. Lately he has focussed on Romantic composers, resulting in an acclaimed recording of Schumann's complete works for violin and orchestra (Daily Telegraph: 'It's hard to imagine more sympathetic and insightful performances of these wonderful pieces'). Supported by the eminent Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin conducted by Okko Kamu, Wallin now offers a programme spanning some 30 years of the long career of Max Bruch.

In the 19th Century, music stood at a crossroads: Liszt and Wagner representing an aesthetic revolution while stalwarts such as Brahms and Max Bruch stood by the classic form. Bruch's style was fully developed by 1860, and though he lived and worked for another 60 years, the composer's work stands as a unified whole. This recording of Bruch's Symphony No. 1 and Violin Concerto No. 3 testifies to the consistency of the composer's vision. Though separated by over 20 years, they speak to Bruch's unfailing ear. Vividly performed by Richard Hickox and the London Symphony Orchestra, the works are vibrant and physical without sacrificing harmony or tonal structures.