(Maks Brookh) 1838–1920
German composer

Bruch studied first with his mother, a soprano, and then with Ferdinand Hiller (1811–85) in Cologne. He held conducting posts across Germany, as well as with the Liverpool Philharmonic Society (1880–83), and a professorship at the Berlin Academy from 1891. Late in his career he received honorary doctorates from the universities of Cambridge and Berlin and was honoured by the French Academy. His best-known masterpiece is the Violin Concerto in G minor, op. 26 (1868). It is one of several stirring works for solo strings and orchestra, including the Scottish Fantasia for violin and the more exotic Kol Nidrei for cello based on a traditional Hebrew melody. His style combines the formalism of Brahms with a love of fugue and counterpoint, rich Romantic orchestration and the pre-Wagnerian technique of motivic reminiscence, evident in the second of three operas, Die Loreley (1862). He excelled particularly in choral works and oratorios, of which Moses (1895) is an impressive example.

Recommended Recording:
Violin Concerto No. 1, Scottish Fantasy; Vieuxtemps: Concerto No. 5, Jascha Heifetz, New SO (cond) Sir Malcolm Sargent (RCA/Sony)

Introduction | Late Romantic | Classical
Personalities | Anton Bruckner | Late Romantic | Classical