The Week in Reviews, Op. 426: Alena Baeva; Maria Dueñas; Orion String Quartet

November 21, 2023, 11:21 AM · 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 Alena Baeva.

Alena Baeva performed Benjamin Britten's Violin Concerto with the New York Philharmonic.

New York Classical Review: "It is...a work of contrasts, with the violinist asked to play at the far reaches of its range, from the eerie false harmonics that end the first movement to trills played on the lowest string of the instrument in its final measures. In between came transfixing playing from Baeva, rendered with searing intensity and purity of tone."
New York Times: "Alena Baeva, making her Philharmonic debut, played the piece with assertive beauty and vibrato so quick, at times, that it seemed to disappear. With her understated legato and handsomely voiced harmonies, she made things sound easy. In guttural passages, she indicated Britten’s intentions without compromising her ability to return to lyricism."

Maria Dueñas performed Johan Halvorsen's recently-discovered Violin Concerto, Op. 28 with L’Orchestre Métropolitain.

Mountain Lake PBS: "With impeccable ease, precision, luminosity, and brilliance of the high notes, from the dazzling initial cadence to the expressive folkloric themed finale, Dueñas captivated the audience with eloquence and regal resonance."

The Orion String Quartet gave one of its final performances at Wolf Trap.

Washington Classical Review: "Violinists (and brothers) Daniel Phillips and Todd Phillips, violist Steven Tenenbom, and cellist Timothy Eddy made Sunday’s concert into a celebration of the transcendence that can happen when four skilled musicians play with near-telepathic communication and common purpose."

Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider performed Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with the New York Philharmonic.

New York Times: "The violinist Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider’s solo playing, decisive in bold passages and tender in soft ones, sometimes turned brittle. Quiet moments emerged like beautiful whispers that evaporated as they tapered off, and he sounded more at ease in stepwise passages than leaping ones."

Midori performed Robert Schumann’s Violin Concerto and Beethoven’s Romance in F with Festival Strings Lucerne at Emory University.

Arts ATL: "Despite the efforts of violinists as esteemed and serious as Midori, Schumann’s concerto lacks coherence and has few of the lyrical and harmonic strengths celebrated throughout the composer’s body of work. Thursday, the concerto was cleanly played but almost devoid of energy...The Japanese-born, New York-educated violinist unspooled (Beethoven’s Romance in F) with unfailing elegance and warmth. Her playing, intensely focused and perfectly polished, had an almost aristocratic bearing. In softer, quieter moments, her tone was pure silk."

Randall Goosby performed Korngold's Violin Concerto in D major with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.

The St. Louis American: "His opening tone (on his 1708 Stradivarius) was so deep and woody that it was like hearing a violin for the first time....As a soloist, Goosby's performance was ensemble-oriented. He was anything but a thunderstealer; he was a soloist who made everyone around him sound better."

Anne Akiko Meyers performed with the Los Angeles Master Chorale in the world premiere of Billy Childs' "In the Arms of the Beloved."

Violinist.com: "The music sounded at times like a symphony, at times like a music in a nightclub, at times like a choral mass, at times like a violin cadenza, at times like a jazz solo. Yet it cohered around the central ideas of the poem (Rumi's 'Gone to the Unseen.')"
San Francisco Classical Voice: "the most engrossing and moving aspect of In the Arms of the Beloved was the back-and-forth between Meyers’s solo violin and Childs’s piano, as if they were taking part in an imaginary conversation between mother and son. Their musical exchanges, like wisps of memory, were a heartfelt dialogue and climaxed in a pair of extended cadenzas."

Azusa Tashiro performed Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires with the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra.

Chicago Classical Review: "Tashiro married earnest feeling with schmaltz and vigor throughout, but absolutely soared in the expansive lyricism that marked 'Invierno Porteño.'"

Francesca Dego performed the Sibelius Violin Concerto and Clara Schumann’s Three Romances with the Ulster Orchestra.

Belfast News Letter: "Francesca Dego gave an outstanding performance which was sensitively supported by her conductor husband and the orchestra"

The Ehnes Quartet performed at Miami’s Friends of Chamber Music.

South Florida Classical Review: "The Ehnes foursome played works from the classical and romantic eras and an infrequently programmed score from the first half of the twentieth century. Each was presented with stylistic affinity, interpretive authority, and consummate artistry."

Simon Zhu performed Dvorak’s Violin Concerto with the Worthing Symphony Orchestra.

Sussex World: "when he was playing there was complete assurance, accomplishment, and direct communication with his listeners."

Karolina Protsenko performed the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with Orchestra Nova LA.

Culver City Crossroads: "From the moment Ms. Protsenko drew her first note, we knew something extraordinary was about to happen. She played with verve and passion, visibly transported and swaying to the music as she played, and was both commanding and commanded by Mendelssohn’s sprightly melodies and deep resonances."

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The Week in Reviews, Op. 426: Alena Baeva; Maria Dueñas; Orion String Quartet

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