Description
Brahms's first and only violin concerto was mocked as being not with but "against the violin." This cutting remark was less directed at the tricky passages, which made enormous demands on the technical dexterity from the even the greatest virtuosi, but rather more at the challenge of asserting his small violin against the large orchestra. It was not only the soloist who had to possess star qualities in this symphonic masterwork, but the orchestra too. Let us begin with the conductor Otto Klemperer, who here proves his highly competent command of the tightly knit score.