MAX BRUCH: Violin Concerto No. 2 in D Minor, Op. 44 - Scottish Fantasy

When a friend asked him why, despite being an excel­lent pianist, he did not compose more for the piano and was so drawn to string instruments, particularly the violin, Max Bruch replied: “It is because a violin can sing a melody better than a piano, and melody is the soul of music.” Born in Cologne on 6 January 1838 as the son of a police officer, he received his early musical education from his mother, a singer. His early compositions attracted attention from the age of nine. Five years later, Bruch won a prize that enabled him to study under Ferdinand Hiller, Carl Reinecke, and Ferdi­nand Breunung. After an early opera whose orchestral version is lost, he gained recognition with his opera Die Loreley, set to a libretto by Emanuel Geibel—on which Felix Mendelssohn had been working before his premature death—as well as with his cantata Frithjof. Appointed Kapellmeister in Koblenz in 1865 (where he stayed two years), he wrote his first violin concerto Op. 26, in G minor, which met with immediate success. In 1870, he left his post as Kapellmeister in Sondershausen to devote himself to composition and conducting in Berlin. Subsequently, he was engaged as musical director in Liverpool (1878–1880), a testa­ment to his European reputation, and from the 1890s onwards became a renowned professor of composition at the Berlin Conservatoire, where his pupils included Ottorino Respighi and Ralph Vaughan Williams.

It was in 1871 that he met Pablo de Sarasate in Zurich. He invited the celebrated Spanish violinist to Frank­furt, where Sarasate enthralled the composer. Bruch described the concert in a letter dated 18 February 1877: “He was playing, I was conducting. Everywhere, the public was wild; I have never experienced any­thing like it. If I may be permitted to use the word ‘rave’, then I would say: I am raving about this Pablo. An extraordinary violinist and a charming person. I shall compose for him again—that’s for sure.” The following month, Bruch informed his publisher Fritz Simrock that he already had ideas for a new concerto for Sarasate to be performed during his upcoming European tour. The composer and the performer met on several occasions, in Baden-Baden and London; they made various revisions to the work, which was premiered – in its manuscript version – at the Crystal Palace in London on 4 November 1877. Although the concerto was warmly received by the public, Max Bruch was deeply affected by the numerous criticisms it attracted. Heeding various opinions, he revised the work several times before its final publication: “I am profoundly upset and wish to hear nothing more for the time being about this performance and its inevitable trail of malice and insults of all kinds, which have ruined my work from the outset”, he wrote to his publisher on 28 January 1878.

Indeed, this concerto’s structure is somewhat dis­concerting. It is said to have been inspired by the Spanish political context and the Carlist Wars, which lend it its dramatic and passionate character. The first movement surprises with its tempo indication, Adagio ma non troppo, in 4/4 time and sonata form – where one would expect a fast-opening movement. The soloist, a true character in their own right, appears to improvise the first dreamy theme, like an extended cadenza, supported by a sombre orchestra punctuated by timpani. The second theme, introduced by a more martial episode in the woodwinds, unfolds a reverie in F major against a backdrop of strings. The develop­ment recalls the viola in Berlioz’s Harold in Italy, with the violin seemingly floating above the action as if commenting upon it, before the recapitulation, in which the double stops play a more dramatic than virtuosic role, followed by the soothing resolution of the cadenza. According to the musicologist Wilhelm Altmann, the first theme represents warriors fallen in battle, and the second a woman searching for her lover among the dead. The second movement, Recitativo, Allegro moderato in B-flat major in 4/4 time, opens as a recitative, followed by a cadenza, then, after a sec­tion in bacchic rhythm (short, long, long), it becomes a fantasy in four sections. Finally, the third movement, Allegro molto in 3/8 time, is in rondo-sonata form and highlights a dialogue between the tutti and the soloist, before a virtuosic development.

This concerto thus reveals Bruch’s taste for fantasy that is also found in his Scottish Fantasy, Op. 46, subtitled “Fantasy for Violin with Orchestra and Harp freely making use of Scottish Folk Melodies”. The composer appreciated the novels of Walter Scott and adored folk melodies: in 1863, he wrote a collection of Twelve Scottish Folk Songs for voice and piano. During this same period, whilst conducting the Stern’schen Gesangsverein in Berlin – a choir comprising many singers of Jewish faith – he wrote his famous Kol Nidrei for cello and orchestra. He also made use of Swedish and Russian melodies. The Scottish Fantasy, composed during the winter of 1879-1880, was also intended for Pablo de Sarasate. Some have viewed it as an unacknowledged concerto: “One cannot truly speak of a concerto”, replied Max Bruch, “because of the total freedom with which the work as a whole is constructed, and also because of the use of folk melodies.” After a solemn introduction comes an Adagio cantabile in E-flat major, whose theme is the ballad Auld Robin Morris, which tells the story of an impossible love. This is followed by a rapid Allegro in 3/8 time, featuring the melody The Dusty Miller, originally an instrumental dance before being set to words by the poet Robert Burns in 1788. Its humorous character is reflected in the dialogue between the flute and the soloist. The Andante sostenuto in 4/4 time, in A-flat major, is to follow without a break. It evokes the song I’m a’down for lack o’Johnnie, a very old traditional air expressing a young girl’s melan­choly. Finally, the Finale, marked “Allegro guerriero” in 4/4 time by the composer, takes up the famous patriotic hymn Scots wha hae where Wallace bled, evoking the choice between freedom and slavery and the memory of those who shed their blood in these battles.

Max Bruch has gone down in history as the composer of a single concerto; he bitterly complained that the success of his first concerto overshadowed the other two: “I can no longer bear to hear that concerto – did I really write only this one concerto? Go on then, and finally play the other concertos, which are just as good, if not better!” he wrote. Furthermore, as an exact contemporary of Brahms and sharing the same aesthetic, he long suffered from being compared with the man who wrote, according to Hanslick, Beethoven’s “Tenth Symphony”. Finally, he was criticised for his anachronism, his fidelity to Mendelssohn or Schumann’s Romantic language, even though many of his works are contemporary with those of Ravel, Debussy, or Stravinsky. How­ever, his opera scores, such as Arminius or Odysseus, enjoyed a certain degree of success. This overlooks Bruch’s talent as a melodist, his gift for creating long musical phrases whose natural flow recalls the expressive qualities of the human voice. This recording is therefore a milestone in the recogni­tion of the composer’s lyrical and expressive talent.

Bénédicte Gandois
Translation: Michelle Bulloch – MUSITEXT

OLEG KASKIV

Ukrainian violinist Oleg Kaskiv belongs to a musical tradition closely associated with Yehudi Menuhin and Alberto Lysy. For nearly three decades, Switzerland has been at the centre of his artistic life, alongside his Ukrainian musical roots and an international career as a soloist, chamber musician and recording artist.

Born in Kremenets, Ukraine, in 1978, he received his early musical education at the Solomiya Krushelnytska Specialised Music School in Lviv, before continuing his studies at the Lviv National Music Academy with Tetiana Syrotiuk and Bohdan Kaskiv. A decisive moment came in 1996, when he moved to Switzerland to join the International Menuhin Music Academy, founded by Yehudi Menuhin. There he studied with Alberto Lysy, Menuhin’s close disciple and artistic collaborator, whose musical ideals and approach to violin playing became a lasting influence on his own artistic development.

International recognition followed through a series of major competitions. He became a laureate of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, the Montreal International Violin Competition, the Louis Spohr Competi­tion in Weimar and the David Oistrakh Competition in Odesa. His work as a soloist has brought him together with orchestras including the National Orchestra of Belgium, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Zurich Symphony Orchestra, the Baden-Baden Symphony Orchestra, the Gstaad Festival Orchestra, Camerata de Lausanne and Camerata Lysy.

His musical life has also been closely connected with recording. His discography includes Mendelssohn’s and Doráti’s Octets with Camerata Lysy (DINEMEC); The Colours of Antonio Stradivari, recorded on the 1718 ‘Szigeti’ Stradivarius (Claves); the octets of Svendsen and Bruch (Claves); Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with the Gstaad Festival Orchestra (Claves); Pierre Wissmer’s violin concertos with Sinfonia Varsovia (Claves); and The Colours of Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù, devoted to Ysaÿe’s Six Sonatas for Solo Violin (Claves).

The International Menuhin Music Academy has remained a central part of his musical life. After completing his studies, he joined its teaching faculty and gradually took on a leading role in carrying forward the violin tradition inherited from Menuhin and Lysy. Today, as Artistic Director and Professor of Violin, he combines his performing life with the training of a new generation of musicians. His students have won prizes at major international competitions and have gone on to careers as soloists and members of leading orchestras.

SINFONIA VARSOVIA  

Sinfonia Varsovia has been an ambassador of Polish musical culture since its inception. For over 40 years, the Orchestra has been a regular guest on foreign and domestic stages. Its foreign travels include thousands of meetings with conductors, composers, soloists, and finally – audiences.

The ensemble continues the tradition of Jerzy Maksymiuk’s Polish Chamber Orchestra, founded in 1972, from which it emerged as a result of its enlargement. The impulse to expand the ensemble was provided in 1984 by the arrival of the legendary violinist Yehudi Menuhin, who soon took over as the first guest conductor at the invitation of directors Franciszek Wybrańczyk and Waldemar Dąbrowski. “Working with no other orchestra gave me as much satisfaction as my work, as soloist and conductor, with the Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra” – he said in interviews.

Over the years, Sinfonia Varsovia has played more than 4,000 concerts, performing in some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls under conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Emmanuel Krivine, Witold Lutosławski, Lorin Maazel, Jerzy Maksymiuk and Krzysztof Penderecki (who in 1997 became the music director, and in June 2003 the artistic director of the ensemble), and alongside such soloists as Piotr Anderszewski, Martha Argerich, Alfred Brendel, Gidon Kremer, Nikolai Lugansky, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Maria João Pires and Mstislav Rostropovich.

Sinfonia Varsovia has made more than 300 records, including for Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Naxos, Sony, and Warner. The recorded repertoire includes works from the 18th century to the present day. A special place in the Orchestra’s concert program is occupied by the works of Polish composers; it has premiered numerous works by composers such as Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, Paweł Mykietyn and Krzysztof Penderecki.

Sinfonia Varsovia has initiated a competition for the architectural design of a music center with the largest concert hall in Poland. The investment is being made with financial support of the Capital City of Warsaw.

Since 2004, the director’s duties have been performed by Janusz Marynowski.

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LAURENT ZUFFEREY

Laurent Zufferey, born in Sion in 1993, is a Swiss conductor and graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, where he obtained a Master’s degree with distinction. After winning 3rd prize at the Augsburg International Conducting Competition, he was invited in 2021 by Paavo Järvi to the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich Academy, where he received the Audience Prize. The same year, Teodor Currentzis invited him to the MusicAeterna residency in Lucerne, where he conducted Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 during a public masterclass. 

He successively served as Assistant Conductor with the Basel Sinfonietta and the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, and since September 2023 as Assistant Conductor with the Orchestre national de Lyon.

In March 2025, Zufferey made his debut at the Philharmonie de Paris, replacing Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider at the helm of the Orchestre national de Lyon and conducting, among other works, the premiere of Ibrahim Maalouf’s Trumpet Concerto, performed by the composer himself.

Throughout his conducting career, Laurent has also worked with renowned orchestras such as the Orchestre National de Lille, the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, the Orchestre National de Metz, the Orchestre de Picardie, the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, the Manchester Camerata, the Augsburger Philharmoniker, the Sinfonietta de Lausanne, the Kammerphilharmonie Graubünden, the Crans-Montana Classics Festival and the Argovia Philharmonic.

Return to the album | Read the booklet | Composer(s): Max Bruch | Main Artist: Oleg Kaskiv