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BeyondGeography

(40,014 posts)
Sat Apr 27, 2019, 12:33 AM Apr 2019

Bruch's Violin Concerto no. 1

Joseph Joachim, for whom this piece was written, once made the famous statement: ‘The Germans have four violin concertos. The greatest, most uncompromising is Beethoven’s. The one by Brahms vies with it in seriousness. The richest, the most seductive, was written by Max Bruch. But the most inward, the heart’s jewel, is Mendelssohn’s.’

Joachim’s placing of the Bruch in this highest tier of concertos is praise indeed, and certainly justified. The Bruch packs an amazing emotional punch, and its slow movement in particular is one of the most glorious pieces ever written for the violin...

https://www.thestrad.com/masterclass/masterclass-joshua-bell-on-bruchs-violin-concerto-no1-third-movement/7853.article


That’s from Joshua Bell, but one of my favorite interpreters of this piece is Kyung Wha Chung, whose recordings with Kempe and Tennstedt are among the best out there. Check out her performance at the 2002 BBC Proms conducted by her brother, Myung-Whun, a great artist in his own right:

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