Bruch - Violin Concerto 1 [Midori/Jansons-Berliner Philharmoniker]Midori Goto, was born in Japan in 1971, she still hasn't hit 40 yet, i thought she was much older, she seems to have been around for so long.
This is very much a famous coupling, these are live recordings with applause at the end, and as such there might be the odd cough or noise that cannot be edited out, also taken on the wing, the editors usually only have one take to edit from, whereas a studio recording, the Artists can listen to playback, and decide to re-record a certain passage that went wrong, on the whole i like studio recordings better.
I must give a mention to the booklet cover, the photo is really good [Lois Greenfield], nice use of browns, and out of focus effect, the lettering and graphics are superb as well, a very pleasing product.
I so much enjoyed all of the movements, especially the last movement, listening to Midori playing, i find she is slightly slow, you get the feeling there is a slight laziness to her playing, there seems a lack of fire and bravura, this is only a slight feeling, she just seems laid back, early on the violin takes the music into the stratosphere, getting louder and higher [2:01-2:14], getting ready for the orchestral explosion of the main tune [2:14-2:31], and then the violin repeats this more gently and nostalgically [2:31-2:49], this whole section is repeated a couple of minutes later [4:30-5:07], a lovely reprise, this is the heart of the movement, reminding us of the beautiful gentle Adagio, at the end of the Concerto there's a nice bravura finish, starting with the violin getting more and more virtuoso [6:46-7:13], with a big ending, the Bruch Concerto is a masterpiece.
Here's Janine Jansen playing the third movement on YouTube.
