There have been or still are at least a dozen recordings of
Bruch’s three symphonies, five of the first, three of
the second and four of the third, each of which made an impact
in their day - respectively 1868, 1870 and 1882 - and the first
two of which went some way to fill the gap between Schumann’s
last and Brahms’ first over a remarkably long period of
a quarter century. Carl Dahlhaus credits no one with writing
any meaningful symphonies during this time, but the evidence
would indicate otherwise thanks to those by Bruch, Dietrich,
Lachner, Hiller, Rufinatscha, Gernsheim, Draeseke, Volkmann
and others. These symphonists are not to be dismissed out of
hand.
Compared to Conlon (EMI), Masur (Philips), Hickox (Chandos),
Schmalfuss (mdg) and Wildner (ebs), the conductor here, Michael
Halász persistently takes swift tempi. At times it results
in a musical gabble of detail; the scherzo of the First Symphony
is the main casualty, though to be fair the finale of the same
work actually benefits from a faster approach than others take.
One feels nevertheless that Halász is embarrassed by
the music and seeks to get through it as fast as he can, which
does the composer a disservice. One has to accept Bruch’s
paucity of ideas in his finales, and his reliance on the arpeggio
and the frequent string-scrubbing - which Bruckner was soon
to perfect - to get his effects. It’s not all doom and
gloom, however. The start of the Second Symphony creates the
right atmosphere of mystery and foreboding mingled with passion
when the Allegro gets going, but again Halász
comes in at two or three minutes faster than most of his colleagues.
On the evidence of this disc, the Staatskapelle Weimar is a
fine orchestra, its wind players shape Bruch’s idiomatically
Romantic phrasing with delicacy and care while the strings know
how to inject fire and warmth as the music builds to the climaxes.
However, few, including Halász pick up on or emphasise
Bruch’s main theme of the finale; in it he alludes to
the finale of Beethoven’s Ninth (track 7 at 27:00) in
a way that sounds remarkably like the main theme of the finale
of Brahms’s First written some six years later. It needs
the same sumptuous string tone and texture, even a louder dynamic;
here it is understated and goes for nothing.
Naxos now has an impressive five discs of Bruch’s concerted
and orchestral music, but their editorial staff should check
the box summary, which on the back of this one credits Bruch
rather than Bloch with having written Schelomo. Probably
the Scottish Fantasy was meant in this particular context.
Christopher Fifield
see also review by Brian
Reinhart
Staatskapelle Weimar/Michael Halász 
