These three symphonies by Max Bruch were revisited in a beautiful recording by Kurt Masur in Leipzig in the late 1980s, as well as at the beginning of the following decade in a recording by James Colon and the Gürzenich Orchestra from Cologne. As the Germanic music repertoire was so rich in this particular period with the likes of Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, and later Bruckner and Mahler, many composers of merit such as Max Bruch were often overlooked. Bruch resisted the musical evolution of the time and remained a conservative composer. He rejected the modernity of the works of Liszt, Wagner, Bruckner and Mahler, with whom he had rubbed shoulders in the course of his eighty-two-year existence. He was a close friend of Brahms and shrewdly predicted his future success, but his own success only really stemmed from the reputation of his Violin Concerto in G minor. Although not quite as great a genius as some of his great contemporaries, Bruch’s three symphonies should nevertheless be commended for many reasons, beginning with their romantic melancholy and skilful and powerful orchestration. Also noteworthy is the gradual complexification of the structure from Symphony No. 2 and the stylistic boldness that peaks in Symphony No. 3 which resumes the traditional four-movement structure and leads to a very joyful finale. Robert Trevino, a young American conductor, worked on this repertoire alongside his complete Beethoven symphonies with the Malmö Symphony Orchestra for Ondine. Here, he directs the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, an orchestra that is well-known to music lovers all around the world. © François Hudry/Qobuz