Thanks to the premiere performance by Joseph Joachim and to the release of the printed edition in 1868, Max Bruch's Violin Concerto no. 1 zipped onto the road to success and has never left it since. Yet from the preface of the “BreitkopfUrtext” edition,one can infer how things looked like behind the dazzling facade. After the world premiere, the composer struggled for the definitive form. He wrote “3, 4 development sections in the finale,” and sought the advice of celebrated virtuosi such as Jos...