Sentimental Work: Eldbjørg Hemsing on Bruch’s Violin Concerto

I first heard Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto no.1 in G minor when I was ten years old. It was the first year I attended the Meadowmount School of Music in New York state; the concert hall made a deep impression on me, being half inside and half outside with swathes of netting all around. In the late evenings, with the crickets chirping, I was exposed for the first time to all kinds of amazing repertoire, and one of them was the Bruch Concerto. I thought it was fascinating and very beautiful, and I immediately wanted to perform it myself…