Mahler Bruch Honeck Dueñas

Max Bruch’s (1838–1920) Violin Concerto No. 1 was an immediate success when it was performed for the first time in 1868. It was so popular that it actually frustrated the composer for the rest of his life. He wrote two more violin concertos but they were rarely played, and Bruch developed an antipathy towards his most successful work. He had been a violinist himself, and wrote insightfully and enthusiastically for the instrument. His most popular violin concerto continues to delight violinists and their audiences across the world.

In 1901, the year Gustav Mahler (1860–1911) started writing his Symphony No. 5, he had a brush with death during an operation, was forced to give up his ideal job, and met the love of his life. It’s therefore no coincidence that the emotional span of the work is immense. The first movement is a funeral march which from the very first note refers to Beethoven’s fifth symphony. J.S. Bach was another source of inspiration. The fourth movement – the Adagietto – is the most famous piece of music written by Mahler, and it is said to have been intended as a love song without words to Alma, whom he married in 1902.

(Translation from Norwegian: Sarah Osa)