While the music of Max Bruch generally strikes listeners as beautiful, imaginative, and high-minded, critics have tended to relegate him to the status of a minor master. Bruch started composing as a child, displaying an extraordinary musical talent which was recognized as such by Ignaz Moscheles. In 1852, he wrote a symphony and a string quartet, the latter work bringing him a scholarship from the Frankfurt-based Mozart foundation, which enabledRead more him to study with Ferdinand Breunung, Ferdinand Hiller, and Carl Reinecke. In 1858, having embarked on a teaching career in Cologne, he produced his first opera, Scherz, List und Rache. He visited several important German cultural centers between 1861 and 1862. From 1862 to 1864, Bruch lived in Mannheim, where he wrote his cantata, Frithjof, which audiences received with great enthusiasm. In addition, Bruch's opera Loreley was produced in 1863. After leaving his Mannheim post, Bruch visited Paris and Brussels, eventually accepting the position of music director in Koblenz in 1865. In 1867, Bruch became Court Kapellmeister in Sonderhausen, remaining at that post until 1870. That year, Bruch moved to Berlin, where his third opera, Hermione, was produced in 1872. Between 1873 and 1878, Bruch, enjoying his reputation as an eminent German composer, worked independently in Bonn. In 1881, however, he resumed his career as a conductor, succeeding Julius Benedict as conductor of the Liverpool Philharmonic Society in England, but he did not get along with the players, who had rather lax standards. In 1883 Bruch left Liverpool and became director of the Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland) Orchesterverein, where he stayed through the end of the season in 1890.
That autumn, Bruch took up an appointment as professor of composition at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik, working there until his retirement in 1910 and retaining his rank as a professor there until his death in 1920.
During his lifetime he had a reputation as destined to become one of music's great composers. Bruch's best-known work is without doubt his passionately romantic Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor (1868), a major item in the standard violin repertoire. His next most often played work is the single-movement work for cello and orchestra, Kol Nidrei. This lovely composition is representative of his interest in setting melodic material originating from other ethnic groups; he wrote works on Russian, Swedish, Scottish, and Celtic melodies as well. These other works, and his symphonies, have not worn well and are rarities, sometimes revived in the concert hall and on records and on those occasions usually favorably surprising the audience for their beauty and fine workmanship. Read less
Label: Emi Classics
Catalog: 94780
Release Date: 07/26/2011
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Antonio Vivaldi,
Ludwig van Beethoven,
Johannes Brahms,
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
...
Performer:
Kyung-Wha Chung,
Robert Wolinsky,
Peter Frankl,
Itamar Golan
Conductor:
Klaus Tennstedt,
Riccardo Muti,
Simon Rattle
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Chung Trio
Label: Warner Classics
Catalog: 456642
Release Date: 06/28/2011
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Max Bruch,
Pablo de Sarasate
Performer:
Chloë Hanslip,
Mikhail Ovrutsky
Conductor:
Martyn Brabbins
Orchestra/Ensemble:
London Symphony Orchestra
Label: Brilliant Classics
Catalog: 94096
Release Date: 06/28/2011
Number of Discs: 10
Composer:
Johann Sebastian Bach,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
Ludwig van Beethoven,
Felix Mendelssohn
...
Performer:
Dmitri Sitkovetsky,
Jose-Luis Garcia,
Neil Black,
Giuliano Carmignola
...
Conductor:
Dmitri Sitkovetsky,
Carlo de Martini,
Gennadi Rozhdestvensky,
Kiril Kondrashin
...
Label: Rca Victor Gold Seal
Catalog: 61739
Release Date: 05/26/2011
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Johannes Brahms,
Ludwig van Beethoven,
Max Bruch,
Henri Wieniawski
...
Performer:
William Kapell,
Jascha Heifetz,
Emanuel Bay,
Brooks Smith
...
Conductor:
William Steinberg,
Sir Malcolm Sargent,
Alfred Wallenstein
Orchestra/Ensemble:
RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra,
London Symphony Orchestra,
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra
Label: Rca
Catalog: 68959
Release Date: 04/05/2011
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Max Bruch,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performer:
Jascha Heifetz
Conductor:
Sir Malcolm Sargent
Orchestra/Ensemble:
New Symphony Orchestra of London,
Chamber Orchestra
Recommendation
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Catalog: 001531202
Release Date: 03/22/2011
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Max Bruch,
Clara Wieck Schumann,
Johannes Brahms,
Joseph Joachim
...
Performer:
Daniel Hope,
Sebastian Knauer,
Bengt Forsberg,
Anne Sofie von Otter
Conductor:
Sakari Oramo
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
Recommendation
Label: Dutton Laboratories/Vocalion
Catalog: 9804
Release Date: 11/09/2010
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
Max Bruch,
Louis Spohr
Performer:
Georg Kulenkampff
Conductor:
Arthur Rother,
Joseph Keilberth,
Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Berlin Deutsche Oper Orchestra,
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Recommendation
Label: Eloquence
Catalog: 4802080
Release Date: 03/16/2010
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Ludwig van Beethoven,
Felix Mendelssohn,
Max Bruch,
Antonín Dvorák
Performer:
Ruggiero Ricci
Conductor:
Sir Adrian Boult,
Jean Fournet,
Piero Gamba,
Sir Malcolm Sargent
Orchestra/Ensemble:
London Philharmonic Orchestra,
Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra,
London Symphony Orchestra
Label: Emi Seraphim
Catalog: 68524
Release Date: 10/26/2009
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Felix Mendelssohn,
Max Bruch
Performer:
Yehudi Menuhin
Conductor:
Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos,
Sir Adrian Boult,
André Previn
Orchestra/Ensemble:
London Symphony Orchestra
Label: Audite
Catalog: 95607
Release Date: 09/08/2009
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky,
Pablo de Sarasate,
Camille Saint-Saëns,
William Kroll
...
Performer:
Michael Rabin,
Lothar Broddack
Conductor:
Thomas Schippers
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Berlin RIAS Symphony Orchestra
Label: Euroarts
Catalog: 2056978
Release Date: 08/25/2009
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Max Bruch,
Ludwig van Beethoven,
Igor Stravinsky
Performer:
Vadim Repin
Conductor:
Simon Rattle
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Recommendation
Label: Oehms
Catalog: 725
Release Date: 06/30/2009
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Max Bruch,
Felix Mendelssohn,
Robert Schumann
Performer:
Benjamin Schmid
Conductor:
Daniel Raiskin
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Rheinland-Pfalz State Philharmonic Orchestra
Recommendation
Label: Emi Classics
Catalog: 65042
Release Date: 04/21/2009
Number of Discs: 10
Composer:
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky,
Fritz Kreisler,
Johann Sebastian Bach,
Richard Heuberger
...
Performer:
Fritz Kreisler,
Haddon Squire,
William Primrose,
Thomas Petre
...
Conductor:
Sir Eugene Goossens,
Sir John Barbirolli,
Landon Ronald,
Leo Blech
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Kreisler String Quartet,
Royal Albert Hall Orchestra,
London Philharmonic Orchestra
...
Recommendation
Label: Emi Classics
Catalog: 64198
Release Date: 04/21/2009
Number of Discs: 10
Composer:
Béla Bartók,
Sir William Walton,
Alban Berg,
Carl Nielsen
...
Performer:
Yehudi Menuhin,
George Malcolm,
William Bennett,
Christian Ferras
...
Conductor:
Pierre Boulez,
Sir William Walton,
Antal Doráti,
Mogens Wöldike
...
Recommendation
Label: Emi Classics
Catalog: 64131
Release Date: 04/21/2009
Number of Discs: 50
Composer:
Johannes Brahms,
Lili Boulanger,
Ernest Bloch,
Ludwig van Beethoven
...
Performer:
Yehudi Menuhin,
Ferguson Webster,
Derek Simpson,
Robert Masters
...
Conductor:
Sir Adrian Boult,
John Pritchard,
George Enescu,
Sir William Walton
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
London Philharmonic Orchestra,
Philharmonia Orchestra,
Colonne Concerts Orchestra
...
Recommendation