Bruch - Violin Concerto 1 [Chung/Tennstedt-London Philharmonic Orchestra]This was a wonderful experience, walking on the way to Church, it was wet, but the air was fresh, and this performance blew me away, so intense, Bruch's Concerto is simple, and yet it has a profound lyrical depth, add to this the artistry of Kyung-Wha Chung, and you have a real winner.
Kyung-Wha Chung is South Korean, she's now 63 years old, and it's good to know that she's back playing again, after a 5 year hiatus after a finger injury, she recorded this work in 1990, the booklet front cover is excellent [by Cindy Palmano], showing Chung with her violin in hand, and with a dark background which highlights her being, it's a nice disc visually.
All of the movements were a revelation, usually it's the middle slow Adagio that i just can't resist, but on this hearing i just loved those outer movements, there's real power in the Finale, but it was in the opening Vorspiel first movement that i was mesmerised, unlike say Brahms and Beethoven, Bruch made all the movements of his Concerto roughly equal length, the opening starts innocent enough, but soon turns into an Allegro of power [1:14+], and Chung's opening phrases are well done [1:28-2:25], creating real intensity, but Bruch has a way of bringing out beauty out of power, and there's tender and touching moments right after [2:37+], culminating in passages of real emotion and spirituality [3:23-4:02], further along the orchestra have a tutti of forte power [5:28+], which gains in power and strength towards the end [6:00-6:40], this was the best bit of the whole Concerto for me, i guess there's a sort of coda at the end, where the whole thing is slowed down ready for the gorgeous slow movement [7:51+], violins bowing high in the treble, a nice culmination of everything, a masterpiece of a Concerto, and no wonder Bruch is sort of stuck with being a one hit wonder sort of Composer [but don't forget his Scottish Fantasy].
Here's Kyung-Wha Chung playing the first movement on YouTube with Andre Previn.
