Par BRUCH MAX. Thanks to the premiere performance by Joseph Joachim and to the release of the printed edition in 1868, Max Bruch's Violin Concerto #1 zipped onto the road to success and has never left it since. Yet from the preface of the 'BreitkopfUrtext' edition,one can infer how things looked like behind the dazzling facade. After the world premiere, the composer struggled for the definitive form. He wrote '3, 4 development sections in the finale,' and sought the advice of celebrated virtuosi such as Joseph Joachim and Ferdinand David to revise the solo part. And after all this was done (see above), Bruch suffered under the work's popularity: 'Have I written nothing but this one concerto?' The new Urtext edition is based primarily on the first edition. Next to the main source and the autograph, what is supremely interesting is a solo part with entries by Joachim and Bruch. It confirms how intensively the two men collaborated on honing the final form of the work./ Répertoire / Orchestre

Premiered by The New York Philharmonic conducted by Lorin Maazel at Avery Fisher Hall Lincoln Center New York City 10th June 2004. Orchestration 3 Flutes 3rd dbl. Piccolo2 Oboes1 English Horn in F3 Clarinets in Bb 3rd dbl. Bas Clarinet in Bb2 Bassoons1 Contra Bassoon4 Horns in F3 Trumpets in Bb3 Trombones1 Tuba1 (set of) Timpani2 Percussion (two players)1: Bass Drum (large) Chinese Cymbal Mark Tree2: TamTam (large) Vibraphone Antique Cymbal1 Harp1 Piano dbl. CelestaStringsAll non-octave transposing instruments are notated in their relevanttranspositions.Horns notated in bass clef sound a fourth above the notated pitch.All accidentals apply to each single note only except tied notes. Naturals for 'safety'. Programme Note This piece marks the conclusion of what could now be called 'The Nightshade Trilogy' three pieces which explore the contrasting worlds of Light and Darkness. As opposed to the earlier chamber work Nightshade which dealt with extremes of high and low pitches and the chamber orchestra composition Second Nightshade a two-fold piece contrasting darkness/anxiety and light/calm Final Nightshade for full symphony orchestra takes us on a journey in which the forces of dark and light struggle - and co-exist - in a predominantly polyphonic web with brooding undertones. The melodic point-of-departure is not surprisingly to be found in either of the two preceding pieces of the Trilogy but in an older piece Corpus Cum Figuris from 1985. Over the ensuing years I've dreamt on and off of 'doing something' with the opening measures of this older work perhaps even building a new composition on that very simple inward-looking time was ripe and there's a nice nostalgia angle to the idea: Corpus Cum Figuris was the first piece of mine to be