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Title: A Pleasant Surprise
Review: Like most classical musicians, I knew Max Bruch primarily for his music for solo violin, and did not think of him as a symphonist. This set proves that Bruch was at home in both worlds. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I've long been addicted to the symphonic tradition -- I'll listen to anyone's symphony just to see what they'll do with the form. The Op. 28, first on the disc, struck me as being partway between Mendelssohn and Brahms (would that be Schumann?), and the style is more or less the same throughout the other two symphonies. The most striking work in this collection is "In Memoriam," Op. 68, which is clearly influenced by later ideas (or perhaps by the moodiness of Brahms' *younger* years, I can't decide which). Unlike some of the other lesser-known German romantics, Bruch the symphonist seems to have had something to say and the talent to say it. This music is unjustly neglected and Masur and the incomparable Gewandhausorchester give a fabulous reading.
