Beethoven/Bruch/Stravinsky!
Three compositions are performed by the Berlin Philharmonic and Russian violinist Vadim Repin on this DVD. Repin’s performance of Bruch’s violin concerto No. 1 is really beautiful, yet not one of my favorites. The Berlin Philharmonic also plays Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements and one of Beethoven’s greatest symphonies, the Seventh.
Simon Rattle’s direction of Beethoven’s seventh symphony is surely done at a fast pace, yet with complete dedication to the wonderful rhythms that Beethoven gave us in this piece. There is a glorious romp all the way to the finish yet the Berlin instrumentalists seem hardly out of breath at the end of it all.
I am becoming more and more a fan of Stravinsky these days. What inventive and creative music this is! And what an innovator the composer was at the time this music was written.
Here are two minutes of the Beethoven symphony #7, a few seconds of the Bruch, and a quick taste of the Stravinsky from this DVD:
Here is VADIM REPIN playing BRUCH’s Violin Concerto Nº1
And here, for comparison, is how Joshua Bell performs the Bruch second movement:
Tags: Beethoven symphony #7, Vadim Repin, Stravinsky, Bruch