FRIEDRICH GERNSHEIM (1839-1916): Violin Concertos No. 1 in D, Op. 42 and No. 2 in F, Op. 86, Fantasiestück for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 33.

Description: Collectors who love Gernsheim because his symphonies sound so much like Brahms have another winner in the first concerto here, published in 1880, which also is in the same key as Brahms’ violin concerto. The concertos are very close chronologically, Brahms being slightly earlier but Gernsheim’s is anything but a copy since both composers were in the Mendelssohn-Schumann-Bruch wing of German music. The second (1912), at 22 minutes, is eigiht minutes shorter than No. 1 but, although Gernsheim strips his materials down to essentials, it is hardly austere and instead sounds bright, fresh and youthful. The early (1876) Fantasiestück’s ten minutes are attractive without having the richness of either of the later two works. Linus Roth (violin), Hamburg Symphony; Johannes Zurl.