Noah Bendix-Balgley in conversation with Stanley Dodds (10 min.)

When the Berliner Philharmoniker were founded in 1882, Max Bruch was at the height of his fame. He himself conducted the orchestra several times. In October 2020, the Philharmoniker played Bruch’s most famous composition by far, his First Violin Concerto, to mark the 100th anniversary of his death. The soloist was 1st concertmaster Noah Bendix-Balgley. In an interview with his colleague Stanley Dodds, the violinist talks about his personal relationship to this show-piece of the repertoire, which he learned while still a teenager. Further topics of discussion are Bruch’s position in music history and the role of the legendary violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim in the creation of the concerto.