Bruch - Violin Concerto 1 [Oleg/Pesek-Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra]Raphael Oleg is new to me, this is the first disc i've bought where i've heard his name, he's actually French, now 51 years old, he recorded this in 1991.
These obscure Denon discs are great!, Denon are such a creative company, there's lots of discs that are only available in Japan, and there's so many discs/Artists that i don't even know exist, the booklet picture is excellent, well composed, with a pleasing background.
Usually i just adore the middle slow movement the best, but this time i found myself marvelling at the outer movements, especially the first, it has a real passion about it, after the pleasant introductions, the orchestra comes in power [1:07+], and the violin also comes in strong, with some forceful music [1:20-2:34] notice the timpani 'heartbeats' in the background, and then comes such a beautiful lyrical section [2:34-4:15], the violin plays its heart out with a gorgeous melody, and the the music rises to a greater passion [3:15+], reaching some wonderful climaxes [3:38-3:52], this is the very best moment of the movement, towards the end the orchestra get to play forte and stormy [5:25-6:31], another moment of tremendous power and fire, what a superb Concerto, Oleg has the measure of its passion and ardour, it's good to acquaint myself with this Violinist.
Here's Janine Jansen playing the first movement on YouTube.
