Canter Bridge

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Max Bruch did not exhaust the possibilities for romantic, passionate violin performance in concerto. He merely came close.

That astonishing achievement earns this underrated late-Romantic composer a place in every listener’s library, to say nothing of the Hall of Honor inhabited by ‘classical’ composers. Kurt Masur’s baton leading the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and the inspired violin of Salvatore Accardo in this 1998 Philips ‘Duo’ release of recordings made in 1978, 1979, 1984, and 1988 make this a CD well worth owning.

The title is anomalous, since the two discs contain not only Bruch’s three symphonies, but also his Romanze in A Minor, Op. 42; Adagio appasionato, Op. 57; In Memoriam, Op. 65; and Konzertstück in F sharp minor, Op. 84. Yet nobody’s complaining, for it is largely via these pieces that Bruch’s mastery with strings shines so brilliantly.

The symphonies are another matter. Those not familiar with Bruch might well use the Brahms symphonies as a reference point, from which one can then move on to mark the significant differences between the two composers.

Bruch’s symphonies are sonorous and profoundly moving, a kind of German varietal linked horizontally at some deep level to the tonal palate of an English composer like Vaughan Williams.

This is very fine music. Bruch’s symphonies are not Brahms, either in shape or in quality. Yet they are ‘Brahmsian’, if one may coin an adjective to indicate a master’s less gifted but honorable disciple.

It is while listening through the pieces for violin and orchestra that a reviewer wonders how he could have stumbled erect thus far through life without having known this splendid beauty. An album with only Bruch’s symphonies would be a workhorse piece of the library with little threat of keeping one up late into the morning, listening. An album of Bruch’s symphonies and these that feature Accardo’s violin in front of an exceptionally well-led Gewandhausorchester Leipzig is another matter. Threatening, indeed.