Customer Reviews

Bruch: Violin Concerto NO.1/Scottish Fantasy

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I have been enjoying these performances since buying a copy of this disc in Japan in 1989. On hearing it again I realized what a sensational CD this is. Hard as it may be to believe, no other violinist comes close to the performances Mr. Lin gives us here, not even Heifetz. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra provides an equally stunning accompaniment and with recorded sound that does full justice to the musicmaking. These artists are performing two of the warmest hearted works in the repertoire, long known to melt your cares away. There is no higher recommendation for a CD I can give. Words just fail here. Get this one and you'll thank me.

Lin's is a very warm and expressive interpretation of these two masterpieces. Even on the incredibly difficult, fast-paced double-stop passages, he manages to add touches (unexpected vibrato here, a slight lengthening of a note there) that make his playing positively glow. Every other recording I've heard (Accardo, Chung, Heifetz, Mutter, even Perlman) sounds mechanical by comparison (some more than others, of course).

Bruch was not a violinist, but he loved the violin, and his music brings out the best in the instrument, I think. His violin pieces are some of my favorites. This recording is my two-year-old's favorite music, and so we play it every day. No one's tired of it yet, and it's been years!

[....] I have this disc as well as Mutter's 1981 disc. Mutter's performance sounds quite mechanical compared to Lin's. Both disc are digital recording, but to my ears, this one is a clear winner.

I plucked this CD from the shelf just because the Scottish Fantasy is one of my perennial favorites. I was expecting a performance on a level reached by other violinists like chung, pearlman, and midori. Until now, I have frankly never heard of Lin. I will never forget him. Lin's music is just hard to describe. How does one verbalize sounds that seemingly come from the heavens! Just listen to the crescendo that closes the first movement and you will know the artist. No mere mortal has delivered a line with such a light, silvery and glorious touch!
I'm definitely enraptured.

I own two different recordings of Bruch's Concerto No. 1 and Scottish Fantasy. Of the two, Cho-Lian Lin's performance is my favorite. I can only describe it by relying on visual descriptors - clarity and brightness. A performance with emotional range, despite its delicate sweetness.

I know very little about Max Bruch. By no means a great composer, he did produce at least a few pieces that are quite passionate and soulful: The Violin Concerto and the "Kol Nidrei" for Cello and Orchestra. The Violin Concerto is quite remarkable in its abundance of Romantic expresion-it is very youthful, fresh and the melodies are very attractive. The Scottish Fantasy is another lesser known work that is very fine and catchy and captures the folk elements of Scotland. Cho-Liang Lin's violin has wonderful tone and personality.

Comparisons for the Violin Concerto: Stern/Ormandy; Hiefitz

P.S. Also see Bruch's "Kol Nidrei" for Cello and Orchestra.

The Concerto and the Scottish Fantasy are two of the great works for violin, and this is the best recording, no contest. This album is up there with the greatest violin recordings ever.