What an underestimated work, Bruch's First Violin Concerto is rightly hailed as a central part of the Violin Concerto repertoire, but this work languishes in its shadow, to me it's an endearing work, it has some of the most touching theme's and tunes that make great Violin Concertos, it was originally worked as a Violin Concerto proper, it certainly works as a Fantasy, unlike say Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole, which is played as four separate movements, this Fantasy is glued together in certain movements, so it ends up with only three separate movements, and hey! there's your Violin Concerto!.
Midori is Japanese, i can't believe she's only 40, she now actually looks older, she recorded this disc in 1993 when she was 22, the front cover photo is by Carol Friedman, a black & white double portrait, with nice sharp detail, the lettering is well laid out, in light blue and white, i really like this front booklet.
What a lovely experience, this work has the ability to move me to tears, it's the first and third movements that are real treasures, so much passion and feeling, it's the third movement that i found so beautiful today, it follows straight on from the second, and it's the violin that plays such an endearing tune [0:00-0:55], and then a more complex variation of the opening tune [1:09-1:58], i just love the way that Bruch just throws open the floodgates of passion in the orchestra [2:22-2:34], such a strong surge, and followed up by Midori playing her heart out [2:34-3:26], i love the delicate but strong solo work later [3:37-4:02], just so beautiful.
Here's Liviu Prunaru playing the third movement Andante on YouTube, the movement actually starts 38 seconds in.
Here's Liviu Prunaru playing the third movement Andante on YouTube, the movement actually starts 38 seconds in.
