The Week in Reviews, Op. 130: Pavel Milyukov, Rachel Barton Pine, James Ehnes
In an effort to promote the coverage of live violin performance, Violinist.com each week presents links to reviews of notable concerts and recitals around the world.
Pavel Milyukov performed Bach's Chaconne with the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra... in a Roman amphitheater in the recently recaptured Syrian city of Palmyra.
- The New York Times: "...it was a concert of a lifetime — and surely risked a few lives along the way. The Islamic State lines were said to be about nine miles away; outgoing artillery boomed as the buses arrived...Then the gentler sounds of Pavel Milyukov playing Johann Sebastian Bach’s Chaconne for Solo Violin echoed through the eerie desert space."
After an adventure getting there, Rachel Barton Pine performed the Beethoven with the New Mexico Philharmonic.
- Santa Fe New Mexican: "She offered an admirable performance — pure, precise, and robust in tone, secure in technical details."
- Albuquerque Journal: "The Larghetto brought a serenity to provide solace to even the most troubled conscience, which could have been extended into eternity, with moments dipping into the twilight zone of mystery."
James Ehnes performed the Williams with the Philadelphia Orchestra.
- Philadelphia Inquirer: "The final movement has previously reminded me of the finale of the Barber Violin Concerto, but that wasn't the case on Thursday. Maybe I'd been studying the un-revised version of the concerto. Maybe Ehnes, with his customary magnetic luster, and Denève, with his passionate devotion to Williams, found their way to the center of the music, which often feels too ruminative to be a finale. Finally, the piece seems to say, "Oh, all right, I'll be a violin concerto now" and delivers a splashy finish."
Gil Shaham performed the Tchaikovsky with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra.
- Nashville Scene: "His phrasing was beautifully shaped, his dynamic control was extraordinary (his softest notes were a silky whisper), and his tone was incandescent."
Dmitry Sinkovsky performed works by Vivaldi... and sang arias by Albinoni and Handel with the Seattle Symphony.
- The Seattle Times: "A dashing, ponytailed figure, Sinkovsky galvanized the audience with his expressive violin as he moved about the stage, facing the Symphony musicians first and then the audience."
Itzhak Perlman performed the Andante from Mendelssohn's Piano Trio No. 1 with Emanuel Ax and Yo-Yo Ma at Carnegie Hall's 125th Anniversary Gala.
- The New York Times: "That these artists chose the tranquil, beguiling slow movement from this Mendelssohn work, which they played beautifully, brought a reflective moment to a gala evening."
Mayuko Kamio performed Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5 with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.
- The Buffalo News: "Kamio made it sing. She plays a priceless violin on loan from the Stradivarius Society of Chicago, and her heartfelt performance made you appreciate the instrument’s mellow resonance. Modest in appearance – she wore a lovely, ladylike gown, and did nothing flashy – Kamio nevertheless has assertiveness. The moment she entered in the first movement, she changed the entire feel of the piece."
Susanna Ogata performed the Torelli with the Handel & Haydn Society.
- Telegram & Gazette: "Her clear-toned, articulate playing well suited the music’s general character — marked by straightforward, sweetly lyrical exchanges between soloist and ensemble — but it was her commanding performance of its vigorous finale that really put a stamp on things."
Simone Porter performed the Tchaikovsky with the Berkeley Symphony.
- San Francisco Chronicle: "The second half was devoted to a splendid and often moving account of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, with Simone Porter as the formidable soloist. At 19, this violinist boasts an impressive technique, steely temperament and a warm, ripe string tone that brought full-throated eloquence to the first movement especially."
Vadim Gluzman performed the Tchaikovsky with the National Symphony Orchestra.
- The Washington Post: "The debut of Vadim Gluzman came unfortunately in yet another performance of the Tchaikovsky violin concerto, which the Israeli violinist has recorded with Litton and the Bergen Philharmonic. It is a piece all too easy to make no impression in, since it is so often played, last heard from the NSO just last year. Gluzman produced a beefy sound on the G string and tended to slather on the rubato awfully thick. He took the finale with reckless velocity and tended to favor fierce immediacy over technical polish, so that the intonation at the top end of the instrument was not always on the mark and the high flautando notes more razor-sharp than fluty."
Guy Braunstein performed the Brahms with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
- The Telegraph: "Guy Braunstein...was a breath of fresh air in a world of brilliant but somewhat rootless young violinists, whose sound owes nothing to any particular tradition. Braunstein only had to play a few bars to show that he belongs to the tradition of great Jewish violinists such as Mischa Elman and Isaac Stern. There was an easy, almost careless warmth about his playing, and a way of throwing off difficult passagework with a flourish that was winning, even if it didn’t always hit the notes bang-on."
Please support music in your community by attending a concert or recital whenever you can!
You might also like:
- American Airlines Refuses Rachel Barton Pine with del Gesu on Flight from Chicago to N.M.
- Rachel Barton Pine talks about the Beethoven and Clement violin concertos
- Interview with James Ehnes: Four Seasons and No Apologies
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May 10, 2016 at 09:20 PM · Thank You Laurie for bringing the news!
Or I will never hear of Pavel Milyukov. Where do you find this stuff? ??
That was a truly monumental event!!!! It was literally unreal!!! And the guy plays both violin and cello!!!???? You have to b kidding!
Though i was unable to go see Rachel Barton Pine performing Beethoven's Concerto, I knew it would also be epic, as far as I know, Rachel Barton Pine is unique not just as an unbelievable violinist, but her understanding of the Beethoven concerto, being the first to ever recorded both the Clement and Beethoven, and i believe at the time the only person other than Clement and Beethoven himself know of the connection between the two concertos and thus the soul of her Beethoven concerto (as you can hear, more than or not in other performances) carries Clement and the friendship between Beethoven and Clement! The Beethoven Violin concerto is THE Violin Concerto by an infinite margin in my mind!!!!