Bruch - Scottish Fantasy [Meyers/Lopez Cobos-Royal Philharmonic Orchestra]Bruch is considered a 'one work Composer', his First Violin Concerto is rightly hailed as a masterpiece, but after that everything else seems obscure, so it's a shame that this Violin Fantasy is not better known, it is a work of real melody, once you hear the tunes, they really stick in your memory, also for me, Bruch seems to have mastered the art of 'tugging at the heart', there are moments which move me to tears, so strong is the heartwrench, plus Bruch seems to have no trouble playing in a Scottish idiom, even though he was a 'foreigner' to the Scots.
Anne Akiko Meyers is an American, though i guess she's of Japanese ancestry, born in 1970, she's now 40 years old, these recordings were made in 1991 when she was a young lass, she had longer flowing hair then, now it's cut really short, the booklet cover is nice, there's almost a ray of sunlight across her face.
I really enjoyed all of this Fantasy, i find it not so much a bunch of Scottish folk songs, but more like a Violin Concerto with four movements and an introduction, it's welded together expertly by Bruch into a seamless whole, i was so much touched by the Andante Sostenuto third movement, it starts off with the most endearing folky tune by the violin [0:00-0:50], sweet and innocent at first, but more impassioned later, it's simply gorgeous, when it starts it melts your heart, then it seems to move into a very loose bunch of variations [1:05+], Meyers doesn't seem to have a phenomenal tone, and she can be fairly quiet at times, the orchestra swells wonderfully in places [2:25+ & 4:00+], there's this tremendous heart tug by the violin [3:36+], Bruch seems to be the master at this, his First Violin Concerto is also plastered with it, if you love that Concerto, then don't forget this masterpiece also.
Here's Liviu Prunari playing the Andante Sostenuto on YouTube, this movement starts about 37 seconds into the video.
