Richard Whitehouse
International Record Review
December 2014

An impressive readi of a work that may yet receive its due in terms of performance. Both discs also feature the Scottish Fantasy (1880), whose reliance on folk tunes Bruch felt denied it concerto status, though there is nothing lightweight about its sombre introduction—segueing into a first movement whose turn to the major brings a thrilling expressive change that Weithaas conveys more tangibly than Liebeck (from 3'00" and 2'39" of track 4 in each case). The former is at her eloquent best here, and if Liebeck brings marginally more verve to the ensuing Allegro, it is Weithaas who elides more seamlessly into the Andante (from 4'45" and 4'39" of track 6 in each case), then conveys the winsomeness of this latter movement in fuller measure. There is little to choose between them in the lively finale, though Liebeck opts for a cut at the start of the development (3'39"), so losing a minute’s worth of music that, while not indispensable, arguably ensures better formal balance across this movement before its languorous second theme comes to dominate the closing pages.