Bruch Violin No 2

There are several reasons to own this Vox Box 2CD set. For the first, it includes five great violin concertos in some of the very best performances in their discography. For the second, Ivry Gitlis (born 1922) is a great living violinist and these recordings made in early 1950s show his art in the best way, when Ivry's violin sounded powerful and brilliant.

Although Nathan Milstein hailed from Odessa, the cradle of Russian violin playing, his personal style was more classical and intellectual in approach than many of his colleagues. By the middle of the twentieth century he had become one of the most renowned violinists in the world, and he did as much as anyone else to imbue Bach's solo violin partitas and sonatas with the rather mystical aura they have presently. Milstein began to study violin at the age of seven. His first teacher was Pyotr Stolyarsky, who remained with him through 1914. Milstein's last recital as a Stolyarsky pupil included another promising student, the five-year-old David Oistrakh. Milstein then went to the St. Petersburg Conservatory to study with Leopold Auer.

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.

On his second album for Alpha Classics, rising star violinist Kerson Leong juxtaposes the Violin Concertos of Bruch and Benjamin Britten. This unusual pairing is a reflection on the journey from one extreme of expression to another. Bruch’s In Memoriam is the perfect bridge between them.

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.

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.

Now we have all three of the concertos, plus the Scottish Fantasy, Op. 46, and the Serenade, Op. 75, all in one convenient 2-CD set. The reproduction is broad, spacious and defined, with the solo violin in perfect perspective.

Although Nathan Milstein hailed from Odessa, the cradle of Russian violin playing, his personal style was more classical and intellectual in approach than many of his colleagues. By the middle of the twentieth century he had become one of the most renowned violinists in the world, and he did as much as anyone else to imbue Bach's solo violin partitas and sonatas with the rather mystical aura they have presently. Milstein began to study violin at the age of seven. His first teacher was Pyotr Stolyarsky, who remained with him through 1914. Milstein's last recital as a Stolyarsky pupil included another promising student, the five-year-old David Oistrakh. Milstein then went to the St. Petersburg Conservatory to study with Leopold Auer.