Attending this concert expecting to hear Mozart, I walked in with high expectations.  However, the show which was held at Brooklyn College’s Conservatory of Music with Conductor George Rothman featured performances of works from Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857), Max Bruch (1838-1920) and, going back a few years, G.F. Handel (1685-1759), in other words, no Mozart, due to some confusion.

The piece that I chose to focus on reviewing is Max Bruch’s (German composer) Violin Concerto No.1 in G minor where movements modulate from allegro moderato to adagio and finally to allegro energico.  During the performance, I remember this piece made me miss Mozart as I kept envisioning this work to be in the soundtrack to some Disney animated movie, maybe a pastoral scene – beautiful and pleasant to listen to, but predictable and uncomplicated.  In fact, having atonality in my mind from previous classes, I can honestly say that I wanted some atonality in my life after hearing Bruch’s Violin Concerto.  The texture was not dense enough for my liking and though it was in the key of G minor which I happen to be a fan of, it was still no substitute for Mozart.  On second (and third, fourth, etc.) listen though, the minor mode stands out to me much more than it did during the performance.  Maybe this is due to the instrumentalists themselves and how they portrayed the piece or maybe my surroundings sitting in the Walt Whitman Theatre but for whatever reason, listening to this piece after having seen it perform live, it’s less Disney, and I am grateful for that.  The third movement in it’s speedier tempo and brighter sound do still lend itself to Disney more than the first two movements.

I learned from the program notes that this Violin Concerto of Bruch’s was partially composed when he was a young man.  Though he began this composition as early as his teenage years, he didn’t complete it until he was 28 and by then resented it.  However, he was the only one it seemed, as the program notes also explain that Bruch had complained to his publisher Simrock that he was only receiving requests to play this first concerto when he had composed four.  “Every fortnight another one <German violinist> comes to me wanting to play the First Concerto; I have now become rude and have told them: ‘I cannot listen to this Concerto any more – did I perhaps write just this one?'”  A little touchy, no doubt, but everyone has their favorites and apparently people then, and now for that matter, are drawn to this first concerto of his.  Another reason why Bruch might be a bit aggravated by the several requests is because he made the not-so-savvy business decision to sell this piece for a one-time fee of $250, therefore not profiting from any royalties that would be due him which would be a hefty amount considering its quick rise to popularity among virtuoso violinists.  A shame for Bruch but if not the fortune, at least he got some fame.