The Week in Reviews, Op. 383: Nemanja Radulovic; Isabelle Faust and Antoine Tamestit; Isidore String Quartet

January 17, 2023, 8:53 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.

Violinist Nemanja Radulovic. Photo by Charlotte Abramow, courtesy Deutsche Grammophon.

Nemanja Radulovic performed Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with the New York Philharmonic.

The New York Times: "...a staggering debut....Modest at first, he was nevertheless an immediately commanding presence....he was also charismatic in his adventurous rubato later in the Allegro moderato; in his simply lovely and smartly shaped melodies in the second movement; and in his folk freedom and crunchy chords in the Spanish-inflected finale."
New York Classical Review: "His playing was cautious in the sense that his intonation, articulation, and phasing were exact throughout. There was nothing stiff, though, this was graceful and elegant playing with the feeling that the violinist had considered how to play each line so that they would sound they way he meant."

Isabelle Faust and violist Antoine Tamestit performed Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with the English Baroque Soloists.

The Arts Desk: "The two were peerlessly together in harmony, keeping vibrato to a minimum to match the period-instrument approach, but didn’t try to close the gap between their very distinctive personalities in solo work: Faust the more introspective, giving us time to dream, Tamestit more extrovert but still capable of scaling back his essential viola personality....there won't be a better concerto performance this year, though I hope some will be just as excellent."

The Isidore String Quartet performed at Northwestern University’s Winter Chamber Music Festival.

Chicago Classical Review: "Winners of last year’s Banff International String Quartet Competition, the four young Isidore gentlemen — violinists Adrian Steele and Phoenix Avalon, violist Devin Moore, and cellist Joshua McClendon — made clear with their Evanston performance that they have earned their laurels and are a talented young ensemble to watch."
Classical Voice North America: "The Isidore potently captured the raw, almost scary feel of the first movement (of Billy Childs’ String Quartet No. 2), “Wake-Up Call,” which evokes Childs’ shock upon learning of his wife’s hospitalization. It is shot through with dissonant squiggles, violent pizzicatos, disorienting slides, and high-pitched screeds, the latter piercingly realized by first violinist Phoenix Avalon."

Pekka Kuusisto performed Daniel Bjarnason’s Violin Concerto with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

Cincinnati Business Journal: "To open the evening, Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto delivered an animated performance of Icelandic composer Daniel Bjarnason’s Violin Concerto. After the violinist’s journey through the concerto’s harrowing difficulties, he joined the acting troupe to play Hardanger fiddle in 'Peer Gynt.'"

Hilary Hahn performed the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

Stir: "...Hahn also delivered the goods in technical wizardry, blazing up and down the fingerboard with flair and precision, yet never losing the sense of spaciousness she wove throughout the piece."

Maxim Vengerov performed in recital with pianist Polina Osetinskaya at Koerner Hall in Toronto.

Ludvig Van Toronto: "Throughout the afternoon, slower-than-usual tempi predominated, Vengerov spinning long, often hushed, vibrato-laden musical threads."

James Ehnes performed Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with the San Francisco Symphony.

Datebook: "At his best, Ehnes is a wonderfully ingratiating artist, and he brought deftness and elegance to the first two of the concerto’s three movements."

Nicola Benedetti performed Szymanowski’s Second Violin Concerto with the Hallé Orchestra.

The Arts Desk: "That cadenza itself, in Benedetti’s hands, was more than just virtuoso fireworks. She found beauty in it and brought her imagination to the technically demanding show-off passages."

Andrew Haveron performed the Korngold Violin Concerto with the Adelaide Summer Orchestra.

Limelight: "Haveron gave a sparkling performance...Haveron brought out the glorious beauty of the Moderato nobile first movement and the deeply-felt emotions in the Romance andante second movement and, together with the lively orchestra, conveyed all the exuberance and celebratory character of the Allegro assai vivace finale."

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jean dubuisson

January 18, 2023 at 03:38 PM · To be honest I had never heard about Nemanja Radulovic but upon listening here and there he indeed sounds like a superb soloist. He won a couple of established competitions when still quite young, around the year 2000 and a bit after that.

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The Week in Reviews, Op. 383: Nemanja Radulovic; Isabelle Faust and Antoine Tamestit; Isidore String Quartet

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