While Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor has long been an omnipresent fixture in the concert hall, his Scottish Fantasy continues to be largely neglected. Perhaps it’s because the German composer mines popular Scottish folksongs for all his thematic material; but even though the tunes are not his own, the Fantasy is still a masterful work, chock full of engaging melodies, engagingly laid out for violin and orchestra, and fully redolent of its Caledonian inspiration.

Rarely will one hear a soloist so completely in synch with a work as violinist Paul Huang proved Wednesday night in Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy. Indeed one would have to go back to the young Cho-Liang Lin’s 1980s recording with Leonard Slatkin and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to hear such a richly expressive performance of this engaging score.

Huang’s playing was unfailingly incisive and technically immaculate in the virtuosic sections of the Scherzo and the playfully insistent, kilted-clans-going-to-battle finale.

But what really came across was the well, fantasy, element in this Scottish Fantasy with the soloist leaning into the Scottish melodies and making the most of the rhapsodic qualities. Huang’s freely lyrical performance served up a solo highlight, not just of the summer but of the year. His encore of Kreisler’s Scherzo provided a nice extra serving of acerbic bravura.

Vänskä’s alert and atmospheric accompaniment was on the same level, textured yet subtle, letting the melodies unfold without going over the top. Harpist Julie Spring contributed a superb rendering of her bardic part, discreetly balanced by Vänskä.