The Week in Reviews, Op. 217: Anne Akiko Meyers; Sergei Dogadin; Itzhak Perlman; Joshua Bell
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.
Anne Akiko Meyers premiered the Adam Schoenberg Concerto with the San Diego Symphony.
- San Diego Union-Tribune: "Commissioned by and written in honor of San Diego native Anne Akiko Meyers, this meditation on age and memory (its title is “Orchard in Fog”) stands a good chance of entering the standard repertory....Meyers’ playing is what it always has been: a national treasure. Her unshowy approach to her work has saved her from becoming a celebrity, and she has left a trail of unsurpassed achievement behind her in recordings, chamber music and orchestra solo appearances around the globe, as well as authorial collaborations and, best of all, active championing of living composers."
Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers. Photo by David Zentz.
Sergei Dogadin performed the Tchaikovsky in winning the 2nd Singapore International Violin Competition.
- The Straits Times: "...a most extroverted reading of the Tchaikovsky, no less from a full-blooded Russian....Grand in movement and gesture, his playing rose to meet that outward extravagance, and the 1st movement's cadenza sparked, crackled and caught fire, setting the passionate concerto alight. A master of nuance, he was also capable of much subtlety, as in the muted central Canzonetta. However, one suspects this was just the much-needed respite before being let off the leash into the most rip-roaring of finales. Here, natural instincts reigned for a suitably spectacular close, drawing loud cheers from the audience."
Itzhak Perlman performed works by Schubert, Strauss, and Debussy in recital with pianist Rohan De Silva.
- San Antonio Express-News: "Violinist Itzhak Perlman on Thursday gave a recital in San Antonio that left no doubt why he is the statesman of his instrument."
Joshua Bell performed works by Mozart, Strauss, Janácek, and Schubert in recital with pianist Jeremy Denk.
- New York Classical Review: "Bell played wonderfully all evening. His main virtue, an elegant style full of long, singing phrases, never becomes tiresome or out of fashion. He’s simply one of the best there is."
- ZEALnyc.com: "Joshua Bell has the ability to toss things off with great ease, yet never without a polished sheen to his tone. As a duo, he and Denk appear to absorb large amounts of repertoire like sponges and devour the music with their formidable chops, playing with ferocious sweep and abandon."
Elina Vahala performed the Sibelius with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.
- Buffalo News: "....she played right from the beginning with urgency and excitement. She is not a grandstanding player, but she commands attention with her focused, lyrical approach."
Please support music in your community by attending a concert or recital whenever you can!
Replies
I thought the wording a bit strange as well. I took "unshowy approach to her work" to mean not having things like dancing or pyrotechnics in her performances (think Lindsey Stirling or Andre Rieu, who are probably more well known than AAM outside the classical music world), which is fine with me!
~ Let us Not think the last name of the composer, Schoenberg, is that of Schornberg, Arnold, as it is more than coincidental ... Only Tuesday one was speaking-writing about the late music
critic of the New York Times, Harold Schoenberg. If Adam Schoenberg is a son or Grandson
of the famed Harold Schoenberg, he may have been with his father or Grandfather long enough
to hear many opinions expressed from a critic's perspective & sometimes not heartfelt, yet with
pedagogical musicological views. If someone is 'adopting' the Schoenberg name, keen musical awareness is in order.
Agreeing with Paul Deck's comment or musing of AAM, as written up in the San Diego Union -Tribune, 'Her unshowy approach to her work has saved her from becoming a celebrity ... ' is a
venture into the quest for 'celebrity' by the critic who wrote those words ~ These days the word,
Celebrity, may not be an adjective one would wish attached to one's name? When I think back
to my late violin mentor, Master Violinist, Nathan Milstein's, 'take' on celebrity, i.e., Hollywood's made overnight version, one certainly steers away yet can capture interest through one's utter
mastery of Great Violin Playing and music making as did the fabled Nathan Milstein, who was
wisely counseled from an early age to 'always be dignified & avoid fame for fame's sake.' I say this with knowledge of such from "the horse's mouth", as during 3 and 1/2 years intense private
study with Mr. Milstein at his home in London, (3 to 4 & 1/2 hours pr. session twice a week) after wondrous 'tutorial's' at High Tea, much discussion ensued about NM's early training and
environment at home ... Suffice to say, Milstein was celebrated, globally, but for and by all who were breathless when trying to describe his 'other world' artistry & fabled Bow Arm (which, btw,
*had No relation to a 'straight bow' technique which is un-natural to the human
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February 13, 2018 at 08:13 PM · "Her work has saved her from becoming a celebrity." Hmmm...