Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, op 26

Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, op 26

1. Jascha Heifetz/Sir Malcolm Sargent/New London Philharmonic - Bruch Violin Concerto No.1/Vieuxtemps Concerto No. 5/ Bruch Scottish Fantasy op 46

There is no competition for this piece at all. Heifetz is the only one who plays through the technically challenging first and third movements with 100% precision, accuracy, and musicality to boot. His 3rd movement (Allegro Energico) is unchallenged by all recordings and his dark tone is just the thing for Bruch's beautiful second movement and the haunting first movement, which is actually a prelude to the second movement. His Vieuxtemps 5 (off-topic!) is equally definitive, Milstein only recorded once (he had no use for the concertos of Wieniawski, Paganini, Vieuxtemps, Sibelius), but it is in mono and his muscality and phrasing is nowhere near heifetz's. No others can match Heifetz's precision of Vieuxtemps chillingly-virtuosic solo violin writing. and there is NO COMPETITION for his gorgeuos Scottish Fantasy either. Quoting an amazon reviewer, Heifetz is the only one who sounds like he's not trying in the challenging fourth movement (allegro guerriero), the rest are struggling. To me, this is one of my best Vk cds.


2. Itzhak Perlman/Bernard Haitink/Concertgebouw Orchestra- Mendelssohn/Bruch Violin Concertos

Oh well. If u must have a second choice, imho it's perlman. His tone is adequate for the first movement, sweet enough for the 2nd movement, and he takes the 3rd movement accurately enough, though it sounds forced at times. You could probably say he showed more musicality than Heifetz, though I disagree. And of course, his Mendelssohn is equally fine.


OTHERS

well, i have two of kyung-wha chung (with tennstedt and dunnowho), imho, the tone sounds superficial, esp in the 3rd mvmt, the double stops are just plain scratchy. try her acclaimed tchaik with previn, the double stops are soooo scratched that you can't even hear the notes! thus umm...get heifetz. yeah.


SPECIAL MENTION

Actually, Bruch wrote three violin concertos. Sadly, the 2nd ( op 44)and 3rd (op 58) are overshadowed by the popular first. Bruch himself cursed the enormous popularity of his first vln concerto, "as if I hadn't written other, equally good concertos!" Try Accardo-complete Bruch Concertos on Philips (2CD) for the complete vln concertos plus scottish fantasy. I like his Concerto No. 3 very much. Bruch was a melodist "melody is the soul of music" and he liked the violin very much though he wasn't a violinist "the violin can spin a melody". that set is available at $28.50 from HMV. Though his Concerto No. 1's recorded sound isnt as good as the rest, and there are some intonation flaws. but get it for the much neglected Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 58!