BRUCH VIOLIN CONCERTOS NOS 2 AND 3 Lydia Mordkovitch violin London Symphony Orchestra Richard Hickox Fritz Curzon Fritz Lydia Mordkovitch (1944 – 2014) Max Bruch (1838 – 1920) Violin Concerto No. 2, Op. 44 29:21 in D minor • in d-Moll • en ré mineur 1 I Adagio ma non troppo 15:02 2 II Recitative. Allegro moderato 4:32 3 III Finale. Allegro molto 9:43 Violin Concerto No. 3, Op. 58 41:19 in D minor • in d-Moll • en ré mineur 4 I Allegro energico 20:27 5 II Adagio 11:50 6 III Finale. Allegro molto 9:02 TT 70:52 Lydia Mordkovitch violin London Symphony Orchestra Richard Hickox 3 Max Bruch: Violin Concertos Max Bruch (1838 – 1920) was the son of from such virtuosi as Joachim, Sarasate and a police official and a singing teacher. Willy Hess. Ten years separate the first two At fourteen he won the coveted Mozart violin concertos (the third followed in 1891), Foundation prize and studied with eminent and whereas the First Concerto was timely teachers in the Rhineland, including in adding to the repertoire twenty years after Ferdinand Hiller, who was to exert a long- Mendelssohn’s, Bruch’s Second was less so, lasting influence. In 1858 Bruch embarked on appearing in 1877 just a year before Brahms’s a study tour of Germany visiting Leipzig, with only (and triumphant) contribution to the form its famous Conservatory, the Gewandhaus (for which Joachim was again the dedicatee). Orchestra, the choir of St Thomas’s church where Bach had ruled supreme, and the Violin Concerto No. 2 in D minor, Op. 44 opera house. The city’s musical activities The premiere of Bruch’s Second Violin Concerto had, until his death eleven years earlier, been took place at London’s Crystal Palace on dominated by Mendelssohn and it was this 4 November 1877 with Sarasate, for whom composer whose fingerprints can be found it was written, as soloist and the composer all over Bruch’s published music, from Op. 1 conducting. It is unusual in having a slow first to Op. 97. movement (‘intolerable for normal people’, Bruch is particularly famous for his First sneered Brahms), which, in sonata form, is Violin Concerto of 1867, much to his bitter broad and powerful in its orchestration and regret, for he sold the rights and made contains brilliant passagework for the soloist. no fortune from a work which is still very It is followed by another unusual feature, a popular. His inspiration lay in melody and folk middle movement in the style of a recitative music but he also loved the violin whereas leading directly into a substantial and rhythmic he loathed the piano. For Bruch the violin Finale. ‘can sing a melody, and melody is the soul of music’ and for his nine concerted works Violin Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 58 for the instrument he always took advice The third concerto was written in 1891 when 4 Bruch was established in Berlin as Professor Lydia Mordkovitch was born in Russia of Composition at the Music Academy at and studied at the Odessa Conservatory, the invitation of its director Joachim. Unlike then at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory its two predecessors, the Third Violin in Moscow, where she was master pupil Concerto is written in the classical mould, of, and assistant to, David Oistrakh. She its opening robust concertante movement emigrated to Israel in 1974 and from 1980 broad and heroic rather than lyrical. The lived in Britain, appearing regularly with slow movement is reminiscent of that of the the London Symphony Orchestra, London famous First Concerto, a simple structure Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic with the soloist developing the main theme Orchestra, The Hallé, BBC Philharmonic, and and its expansive cantilena by figurations English Chamber Orchestra. She worked and variations against a background of with such distinguished conductors as subdued orchestral accompaniment. The Sir Georg Solti, Riccardo Muti, Vassily finale, a conventional rondo, is dominated Sinaisky, Neeme Järvi, Richard Hickox, Hugh by its strongly rhythmic perpetuum mobile Wolff, Jan Latham-Koenig, Vernon Handley, interspersed by lyrical passages often using Gennady Rozhdestvensky, and Stanisłav double-stopping. Skrowaczewski. An impressive discography reflects her comprehensive catalogue, and © Christopher Fifield encompasses music from the complete works for solo violin by Bach to the concertos The violinist Lydia Mordkovitch (1944 – 2014) of Shostakovich, her recording of which took a wealth of musical experience from the for Chandos won a Gramophone Award and former Soviet Union via Israel to Britain, which a Diapason d’Or. In addition to her award she made her home for the second half of her nominations, Gramophone seven times made life. A strong, charismatic performer, she was a disc of hers a Critics’ Choice and her last a faithful interpreter of a composer’s wishes recordings won major nominations and prizes and made more than sixty recordings for across Europe. Chandos. Her native and adopted countries Lydia Mordkovitch was several times are strongly represented in a wide repertoire, named ‘Woman of the Year’ by the American shown particularly effectively in the four-part Biographical Institute, and also ‘Outstanding Tribute released in 2015. Woman of the Twentieth and Twenty-first 5 Centuries’. She was a Professor and Honorary Philharmonia Orchestra he conducted Elgar, Member of the Royal Academy of Music in Walton, and Britten festivals at the South Bank London. As a founding artist for Chandos and a semi-staged performance of Gloriana at Records she will be very much missed. the Aldeburgh Festival. Apart from his activities at the Sydney At the time of his untimely death at the age of Opera House, he enjoyed recent engagements sixty in November 2008, Richard Hickox CBE, with The Royal Opera, Covent Garden, English one of the most gifted and versatile British National Opera, Vienna State Opera, and conductors of his generation, was Music Washington Opera, among others. He guest Director of Opera Australia, having served conducted such world-renowned orchestras as Principal Conductor of the BBC National as the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of Wales from 2000 until 2006 when Orchestre de Paris, Bavarian Radio Symphony he became Conductor Emeritus. He founded the Orchestra, and New York Philharmonic. City of London Sinfonia, of which he was Music His phenomenal success in the recording Director, in 1971. He was also Associate Guest studio resulted in more than 280 recordings, Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, including most recently cycles of orchestral Conductor Emeritus of the Northern Sinfonia, works by Sir Lennox and Michael Berkeley and and co-founder of Collegium Musicum 90. Frank Bridge with the BBC National Orchestra He regularly conducted the major of Wales, the symphonies by Vaughan Williams orchestras in the UK and appeared many times with the London Symphony Orchestra, and at the BBC Proms and at the Aldeburgh, Bath, a series of operas by Britten with the City of and Cheltenham festivals, among others. London Sinfonia. He received a Grammy (for With the London Symphony Orchestra at the Peter Grimes) and five Gramophone Awards. Barbican Centre he conducted a number of Richard Hickox was awarded a CBE in the semi-staged operas, including Billy Budd, Queen’s Jubilee Honours List in 2002, and was Hänsel und Gretel, and Salome. With the the recipient of many other awards, including Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra he gave two Music Awards of the Royal Philharmonic the first ever complete cycle of Vaughan Society, the first ever Sir Charles Groves Award, Williams’s symphonies in London. In the the Evening Standard Opera Award, and the course of an ongoing relationship with the Award of the Association of British Orchestras. 6 Max Bruch: Violinkonzerte Max Bruch (1838 – 1920) war der Sohn eines Beliebtheit erfreut. Bruchs Inspiration lag in Polizeioffiziers und einer Gesangslehrerin. der Melodik und der Volksmusik. Er liebte die Mit vierzehn gewann er den begehrten Violine, verabscheute aber das Klavier. Die Preis der Mozart-Stiftung und erhielt bei Violine konnte für ihn “eine Melodie singen, führenden Lehrern im ganzen Rheinland und Melodie ist die Seele der Musik”. Bei der Unterricht, von denen Ferdinand Hiller einen Komposition aller neun seiner konzertanten lebenslangen Einfluß auf ihn ausüben sollte. Werke für dieses Instrument ließ er sich 1858 trat Bruch eine Bildungsreise durch immer von Virtuosen wie Joachim, Sarasate Deutschland an und besuchte dabei auch oder Willy Hess beraten. Er schrieb drei Leipzig, wo er das rege Musikleben der Stadt Violinkonzerte, das letzte im Jahre 1891, als mit Begeisterung beobachtete: das berühmte er Professor für Kompositionslehre an der Konservatorium, das Gewandhausorchester, Berliner Musikhochschule war, auf Bitten von den Thomanerchor, wo der Einfluß Johann deren Direktor – eben Joseph Joachim. Sebastian Bachs noch immer spürbar war, und die Oper. Der musikalische Betrieb Violinkonzert Nr. 2 d-moll op. 44 Leipzigs war, zumindest bis zu dessen Bruchs Zweites Violinkonzert wurde am Tod neun Jahre zuvor, durch Mendelssohn 4. November 1877 im Londoner Crystal Palace geprägt worden, und es ist vornehmlich der uraufgeführt: Solist war Sarasate, für den Stempel dieses Meisters, der sich in Bruchs das Stück geschrieben worden war, und am sämtlichen veröffentlichten Werken vom op. 1 Dirigentenpult stand der Komponist selbst. bis hin zum op. 97 wiederfindet. Es ist insofern ungewöhnlich, als es einen Besonders berühmt wurde Bruch mit langsamen ersten Satz hat (“für normale seinem ersten Violinkonzert – zu seinem Menschen unerträglich”, spottete Brahms), bitteren Leidwesen, hatte er doch die der in Sonatenhauptsatzform angelegt ist Rechte dafür verkauft und folglich keinen und mit weitgreifender und aussagestarker Anteil mehr an dem kommerziellen Erfolg Orchestrierung dem Solisten virtuose eines Werkes, das sich nach wie vor großer Figurationen bietet. Es folgt ein weiteres 7 Kuriosum, nämlich ein Mittelsatz im Stil eines eine starke, charismatische Künstlerin und Rezitativs, der direkt in ein umfangreiches getreue Interpretin der Intentionen des und besonders rhythmisches Finale Komponisten; für Chandos machte sie mehr überleitet.