Brahms - Violin Concerto and Hungarian Dances - Joseph Swensen · Scottish Chamber Orchestra

Another triumphant success for director Joseph Swensen and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Under Swensen's powerful command the orchestra gives a fantastically spirited performance: a thoroughly appealing disc

Brahms wrote the Violin Concerto op. 77 in the summer of 1878 while holidaying in the idyllic setting of Pörtschach in the Styrian Alps, the place where, a year earlier, he had written his Second Symphony. Immediate parallels can be drawn between the two works: both are in D major, have a first movement in triple time with a triadic first subject, and are pervaded by the new-found self confidence and inner calm that manifested itself in Brahms’s writing following the completion of his long-awaited First Symphony.

Tracklist

[1] Violin Concerto in D major Op. 77 Allegro non troppo
[2] Violin Concerto in D major Op. 77 Adagio
[3] Violin Concerto in D major Op. 77 Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace
[4] Hungarian Dance No. 1 in G minor (Brahms)
[5] Hungarian Dance No. 8 in A minor (Gal)
[6] Hungarian Dance No. 19 in B minor (Dvorak)
[7] Hungarian Dance No. 2 in D minor (Hallen)
[8] Hungarian Dance No. 18 in D (Dvorak)
[9] Hungarian Dance No. 9 in E minor (Gal)
[10] Hungarian Dance No. 21 in E minor (Dvorak)
[11] Hungarian Dance No. 20 in E minor (Dvorak)
[12] Hungarian Dance No. 3 in F (Brahms)
[13] Hungarian Dance No. 6 in D (Schmeling)
[14] Hungarian Dance No. 7 in A (Schmeling)
[15] Hungarian Dance No. 10 in F (Brahms)
[16] Hungarian Dance No. 17 in F# minor (Dvorak)
[17] Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G minor (Schmeling)