Program Notes | February 11, 2012 | Errante Anniversary
Notes researched & written by Joan Olsson
MAX BRUCH
1838 – 1920
VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 1 in g minor, Op. 26 First Movement 1866
Although Max Bruch comes close to being regarded as a one-masterwork composer (thanks to the g minor concerto), he was a substantial figure on the musical landscape during his life span. Nowadays few of his works are played although the composer’s musical output includes three operas, 45 choral works, three symphonies and fifteen other works for solo instruments and orchestra, including his famous Kol Nidrei based on the traditional chant associated with the most holy of Jewish occasions. This was an unusual undertaking for a non-Jewish composer.
The Violin Concerto No. 1 has often been considered the richest and most seductive of the famous German violin concertos written by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms and Bruch. This concerto took ten years to complete and after its premiere, revisions were made with help from the famous violinist Joseph Joachim.
Regarded by the composer as a “prelude to the second movement,” the First Movement has a strong first theme and a very melodic and slower second theme. Orchestral flourishes alternate with solo passages in the expression of the two melodies. It ends as it begins — with two short virtuosic cadenzas followed by a final passage by the orchestra.