Max Bruch’s two violin masterpieces have inspired the new album from Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell. Bell performs and directs the Academy of St Martin in the Fields in his first-ever recording of the Scottish Fantasy and offers a fresh take on Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 26 – the first concerto Bell recorded thirty years ago with the Academy conducted then by Sir Neville Marriner. The Scottish Fantasy has become a great favorite of Bell’s in the last decade. He calls Bruch’s Concerto No. 1 “the most seductive of violin concertos,” saying “It’s a piece that audiences go crazy over because it’s so rich and lush, and it’s easy to grasp. It’s got excitement, power and passion.”