Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto No. 1; Ivry Gitlis, violin

You ever watch a movie and see an actor whose name you forget, but whose face you recognize? Then when you spot the actor you think, “Oh yeah; I forgot I like him/her.”

Actually, if your thoughts really use the phrase “him/her,” get your vision checked.

But I go through that same kind of recogition every time I listen to the works of Felix Mendelssohn. He’s not someone I listen to often, but every time I do, I marvel at how much I like his work.

Mendelssohn, in short, is the J.K. Simmons of classical composers.

My most recent discovery of something I already knew occurred when I got a copy of the album "Violin Concerti," featuring Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto No. 1 in E Minor, and the Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor by Max Bruch. The violinist is the excellent Ivry Gitlis, an Israeli musician who was born in Haifa in 1922 and worked in a British munitions factory during World War II.

Gitlis is joined by the Pro Musica Symphony of Vienna, conducted by the late Hans Swarowsky.

This album demonstrates the biggest joy of collecting inexpensive vinyl: the discovery of artists you want to learn more about. I had not heard of Gitlis before hearing this record. Now I want to hear more.
Mendelssohn's concerto starts with a haunting little solo on the E string that draws you in and holds your attention.

From there the piece continues as variations on that initial theme.

Violinists have a reputation, fair or not, for having a flair for the overdramatic, or showing off excessively. What's great about this recording is Gitlis doesn't do anything to excess. He plays with a simple elegance that makes the concerto fun to listen to. Gitlis' violin is almost heartbreaking in its beauty during one of the slower movements before the finale.

I won't put the finale here – I don't want to ruin the ending for you – but I will share another one of my favorite bits, where Mendelssohn gets playful with the violin. It's all part of the build, but it's an unexpected moment of levity before the grand climax.

Max Bruch

On to side two: Max Bruch's concerto is much more melancholy. In fact, listening to the opening movement reminded me of Frau Blucher leading Dr. Frankenstein ("that's Franken-STEEN!") into his grandfather's lab in the Mel Brooks classic "Young Frankenstein."

Listen to a version of the lullaby from the movie:



That sense of sadness -- in Bruch's piece, that is, not Brooks' -- pervades the piece, even when Gitlis is able to pick up the tempo and the rest of the orchestra jumps in. The result is louder, but it's not any more cheerful.

This makes the last movement seem all the more jovial, considering the bleak landscape Bruch presented us with in the beginning. By the end, he sounds downright -- dare I say it -- peppy!

Except the finale, not much about this concerto really grabbed me the way the opening of the Mendelssohn piece did. But I did like the fact that Bruch seems to follow a narrative throughout his work. If not a narrative, then at least a consistent tone.

But if I were the type to compare two sides of the same album, I'd have to give the edge to side one. Max Bruch was a hell of a composer, but he's no J.K. Simmons.

I mean, um, you know, that other guy. Whatshisname.

By the way, both of these pieces are on a CD called "The Art of Ivry Gitlis," if you want to find a recording of your own in a slightly more portable format than a 12-inch vinyl record.

What violin concertos do you like? How wrong was I to make a Mel Brooks reference in a classical blog post? Discuss in the comments.