Release Date: 08 January 2004
Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 747313239528
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: BRUCH
Description
Max Bruch (1838-1920)Scottish Fantasy, Op. 46 Serenade, Op. 75Today Max Bruch is generally known only as thecomposer of works for the violin. In addition to theViolin Concerto in G minor, the popularity of whichcontinues, and, to the annoyance of the composer,eventually overshadowed much of his other work, wehear from time to time the Scottish Fantasy and theSecond Violin Concerto. The fact that Bruch, in his day,was famous for his large-scale choral works isforgotten. Between 1870 and 1900 there were numerousperformances of works such as Odysseus, Frithjof orDas Lied von der Glocke, earning for the composer areputation that momentarily outshone that of Brahms.Max Bruch was born in Cologne on 6th January,1838, in the same year as Bizet. He studied there withFerdinand Hiller and Carl Reinecke. Extended journeysat home and abroad as a student were followed by alonger stay in Mannheim, where his opera Loreley wasperformed in 1863, a work based on a libretto by Geibeland originally dedicated to Mendelssohn, whichbrought him to the attention of a wider public. Bruch'sfirst official appointments were as Kapellmeister, firstin Koblenz from 1865 to 67, and then in Sondershausenuntil 1870, followed by a longer stay in Berlin and aperiod from 1873 to 1878 in Bonn, when he dedicatedhimself to composition. After a short time as director ofthe Sternscher Sangverein in Berlin, in 1880 he wasappointed conductor of the Liverpool PhilharmonicOrchestra, where he succeeded Julius Benedict, leavingEngland in 1883 to become director of theOrchesterverein in Breslau. In 1891 he moved finally toBerlin and took over master-classes in composition,Respighi being one of his pupils. He retired in 1911 todevote himself to composition, although nowessentially writing in a traditional style that seemed tohave passed. He died in Berlin on 2nd October, 1920.Bruch wrote his Scottish Fantasy in 1880 for theviolinist Pablo Sarasate, who gave the first performancein September of the same year. For his thematicmaterial he drew on an anthology of six hundredScottish folk-songs, The Scots Musical Museum,published by the Edinburgh music engraver JamesJohnson in six volumes between 1787 and 1803, thelater volumes with the collaboration of Robert Burns.The collection was influential, although the rivalcollector George Thomson had little good to say of it,describing it as 'an omnium gatherum in six volumes,containing a number of tawdry songs which I should beashamed to publish . . . as much a book for topers as forpiano players'. Thomson, who also had the benefit ofcollaboration with Burns, had dealings with Haydn,Beethoven and others, in the commissioning ofarrangements of the tunes collected.The Fantasy starts with a solemn Introduction in Eflat minor, to which the soloist adds rhapsodiccomment. The first movement, marked Adagiocantabile, follows without a break, making use of thesong Old Robin Morris, the harp, a necessary bardicconcomitant, making its extensive appearance. Thesoloist
Tracklisting
Dariia Lytvishko
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop
Alice Di Piazza; Basel Sinfonietta; NDR Bigband; Titus Engel
Anna Alas i Jove; Miquel Villalba
David Childs; Black Dyke Band; Nicholas Childs
Yang/Schwabe/Dt So/Wit
Wolf Harden
Wolf Harden
