Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 26

looking for milk at the iTunes store

     

I'm not a fan of big orchestral works; I prefer chamber music. Nevertheless, this light, melodic concerto is practically a chamber piece (and, in fact, many chamber orchestras have recorded it). I haven't owned it in the CD era because it's usually paired with the Bruch, which I don't care for, or Tchaikovsky, or some other heavy, heavy concerto. But this sort of dilemma is exactly why iTunes exists, right? I mean, why buy the cow when you can just get a gallon of milk when you need it? Sad to say, while there are many recordings of this concerto at the store, in most cases, you have to buy the whole frigging cow, because the first movement is over ten minutes long. There are a few albums that are set up so that you can just buy the work, but regrettably you cannot buy performances of this work by Janine Jansen, Itzakh Perlman, Ann-Sophie Mutter, and a number of other artists unless you buy the whole album. There are about five choices for someone like me, including Joshua Bell, Isaac Stern, and Gil Shaham. I won't dis the ones I didn't pick (especially since I only heard 90 seconds of each of them), but I will say that the choice came down in the end to Gil Shaham or Joshua Bell. Both seemed to feature lively conducting and marvelous solo performances, but the Shaham recording, with Giuseppi Sinopoli conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra, seemed a little richer and fuller in its recorded sound. I'm very happy that I bought it; like the Bell (featuring Marriner conducting St. Martin's in the Field's), it was $4.97 for the complete work and a real bargain. However, a note to Apple: can you talk to your record companies and make a few more choices available as complete works?