Bruch: Complete Works for Violin & Orchestra, Vol. 2

Featuring

Hermann Bäumer
Antje Weithaas
NDR Radiophilharmonie
Max Bruch

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Composition History

Max Bruch's Violin Concerto in G minor, Op. 26, was premiered in its final version by the virtuoso Joseph Joachim in Bremen on January 7, 1868.

Performer Biography

Hermann Bäumer, the conductor on this album, was a trombonist with the Berlin Philharmonic from 1992 to 2003 before becoming a chief conductor.

Performer Biography

Antje Weithaas, the violinist on this album, began playing the violin at age four and later won the Kreisler Competition in Graz (1987), the Bach Competition in Leipzig (1988), and the International Joseph Joachim Violin Competition in Hanover (1991).

Composer Biography

Max Bruch, the composer of the Violin Concerto in G minor, was continuously uncertain about his compositional technique, which led to him being easily excitable.

Instruments

Antje Weithaas, the violinist on this recording, plays a Peter Greiner violin made in 2001.

Composer Biography

Max Bruch's relationship with Johannes Brahms, a contemporary composer, was strained, with Bruch referring to Brahms as 'your idol' in a letter to Hermann Levi, a conductor and pupil of Vinzenz Lachner.

Critical Reception

Max Bruch's Violin Concerto in G minor, Op. 26, was so successful that the composer complained about its ubiquity and even created a self-made epigram titled 'Police Prohibition Concerning M. B.'s First Concerto'.