Joachim: Violin Concertos

"Joachim integrated the violin’s first entry into the opening tutti, after which initial statement the orchestra continues on its own. The solo part offered its youthful composer a great number of opportunities for virtuoso display…In its harmonic and melodic style, so heavily tinged with nostalgia…

…in the Hungarian style” has been described as the most difficult of concerted works for the violin…it requires strength and stamina as well as sustained brilliance, demanding a very occasional sacrifice of tonal beauty to achieve the requisite tonal strength. Strongly recommended to all kinds of listeners." --Fanfare, May 2010

A colleague of Mendelssohn, the Schumanns and Brahms, the virtuoso violinist Joseph Joachim was himself a composer of note. His exuberant single-movement Opus 3 Violin Concerto from around 1851 was dedicated to Liszt, from whom he subsequently distanced himself. It is a tour de force by a highly gifted twenty year old. The Opus 11 Violin Concerto followed six years later, its Classical three movements frequently coloured by Hungarian inflections, most strikingly in the ‘gypsy finale’ which calls for astonishing technical control, immense stamina and fiery abandon from the soloist. Suyoen Kim is the Winner of the 2006 Hannover International Violin Competition.