The Week in Reviews, Op. 194: Jennifer Koh; Christian Tetzlaff; Nikolaj Znaider

August 21, 2017, 1:20 PM · 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.

Jennifer Koh performed three Beethoven violin sonatas in recital with pianist Shai Wosner.

The San Diego Union-Tribune: "Koh brought a dramatic urgency to her sound, a fire-in-the-belly striving that was overwhelming in Beethoven’s climaxes. In her softer moments, she coyly played with a judicious rubato, teasing with the melody, delaying it ever so slightly."

Jennifer Koh.

Christian Tetzlaff performed the Berg with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Click here to listen to this BBC Prom 40 performance.

Express: "Christian Tetzlaff coped brilliantly with Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto, delicately teasing the haunting opening bars into space, Regrettably his sensitivity became swamped and I for one was silently urging him to step up to the line and take command."
Independent: "Christian Tetzlaff’s introspective solo line may have conjured the billowing skirts and waltzes of the ballroom, but it was a vision faded into palest sepia, a remembrance tarnished by time and anger. The feminine delicacy of his tone at both the opening and the blanched, blinding ending gave us pathos but never sentimentality in a work always poised at the emotional breaking point."

Nikolaj Znaider performed the Brahms with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

The Boston Musical Intelligencer: "He played the Heifetz/Auer cadenza, slashing his way through it with so much brio that the orchestra bars that followed felt a little cowed. It was a big performance, rapturously received, and topped with a slow Bach movement filled with colors, all of them dark and dramatic."

Joshua Bell performed the Mendelssohn with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

The Republican: "No stranger to the spotlight, Bell delivered a dazzling performance of Mendelssohn's masterpiece..."
The Berkshire Eagle: "Sheer beauty of tone, coupled with technical wizardry and romantic fervors, made the over-played work irresistible all over again. The cadenza, concocted not by Mendelssohn but by other hands, was brilliant in its mix of show and substance."

Joshua Bell also performed the Brahms Double Concerto with cellist Steven Isserlis and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra.

Zeal NYC: "Friends, colleagues, and sparring partners for three decades, they are symbiotic in their electrifying artistry when they play together, and the Brahms...Double is a tailor-made vehicle for their musical volatility."

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