Bruch - Violin Concerto 1 [Zukerman/Mehta-London Philharmonic Orchestra]Pinchas Zukerman was born in Israel in 1948, though he has moved to North America now, and probably has citizenship there too, i believe he resides in Canada, this work was recorded in 1992.
This is one of those discs that have a nice black and white picture on the disc itself, taken at the same session as the booklet cover, but it shows the Violinist / Conductor more serious, i really think it would have made a better booklet cover pic, there's some nice shadows on their faces on the left, the photographer is Richard Haughton.
It's that middle movement Adagio that gets me every time, it has an aching violin melody, presented simply at the beginning [0:00-0:55], but Bruch develops it into something so much more, a greater intensity and passion [0:57-1:41], later the orchestra has a gentle passage to itself [4:24-4:56], and right after the violin comes in high and sweet [4:56-5:34], and afterwards a high intensity, and high volume surge is created [6:00-6:35], started by the violin, but finished off in glorious splendour by the orchestra, right at the end the violin sings from gentle and innocent, to sweet and strong [7:53-9:00], a truly impassioned passage that leads right to the end of the movement, full of heartfelt romanticism.
Here's Zukerman playing the slow movement on YouTube, the Adagio starts at 2:10.
