Max Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, is one of the most popular violin concertos in the repertoire. It continues to be performed and recorded by many violinists and is arguably Bruch's most famous composition.
Ray Minshull, head of Decca's classical artists' department from 1967 to 1994, states: 'At the time there were considerable reservations about risking the (then) virtually unknown Scottish Fantasy, since the standard concerto to put on record with the Bruch had become the Mendelssohn, but the agreed feeling was that with a star of our soloist's magnitude we could afford to take the risk. This confidence was not misplaced, and the works give her a wonderful opportunity to illustrate one of the features which to me, makes her most uncommon as a violinist - she is able to draw from the lower three strings of the instrument a range of emotions which I have heard from no other.'
'Kyung-Wha Chung is a formidable player. She has a bold attack which springs from absolute security of intonation. The sound of the lyrical passages especially is consistently bright and rich, tonally integrated from top to bottom and of a really big expressive range. The Concerto opens well and seems to go from strength to strength...with Kempe's sensitive support.' Gramophone