The Week in Reviews, Op. 448: Jessie Montgomery, Daniel Hope, Leonidas Kavakos

May 8, 2024, 12:07 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 and composer Jessie Montgomery. Photo by Jiyang Chen Photography.

Jessie Montgomery performed Lou Harrison’s Concerto for Violin with Percussion Orchestra with Third Coast Percussion.

Chicago Classical Review: "Montgomery was a serene presence amid the flurry of percussive punctuations and complex rhythms around her. While the first movement featured devilish double stops in the unaccompanied cadenza, her most compelling playing came in the highly exposed slow movement, essentially a violin soliloquy with minimal percussive interference."

Daniel Hope and pianist Simon Crawford-Phillips performed a Chamber Music San Francisco recital.

San Francisco Classical Voice: "(Ravel's) Violin Sonata No. 1, a single movement published posthumously, doesn’t always convince....But the duo made it a shapelier score. Hope’s forceful, passionate playing here made it easy to imagine Enescu performing it, as he likely did."

Leonidas Kavakos performed Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin at the Barbican, London.

The Guardian: "Kavakos played with a buoyancy of bow and an awareness of the impact of small changes in timbre that nodded respectfully to the historically informed side of performance practice, yet with a modern warmth and weight of sound."

Nikki and Timothy Chooi performed with the Buffalo Philharmonic.

Bach Track: "Canadian violinist Timothy Chooi’s solo playing was robust (in Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto no. 1), his sound rising over the orchestra such that every note and phrase could be heard....Chooi returned to the stage joined by his brother, BPO concertmaster Nikki Chooi, to present Bach’s Double Violin Concerto."

Nurit Bar-Josef performed Beethoven's two Romances for Violin and Orchestra with the National Symphony Orchestra,.

Washington Classical Review: "Romance No. 1 proved the highlight of the first half, with the double-stop writing playing to Bar-Josef’s strengths: the twin polyphonic lines of the part, connected with striking legato and less vibrato, stood out with impeccable clarity."

Junction Trio, with Stefan Jackiw, Jay Campbell and Conrad Tao, performed at Carnegie Hall.

Vulture: "... this concert, even in the noiseless cocoon of Weill Hall, evoked the timeless jangle of public life, a culture enriched by constant collisions and relentless curiosity."

The Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth presented an evening of piano quintets with Will Hagen, Gary Levinson, Juan Miguel Hernandez, Julian Schwarz and Dénes Várjon.

Texas Classical Review: "While both quintets received a solid reading, listeners who stayed for the second half got a more accurate picture of what splendid chamber music playing can sound like."

Renaud Capuçon cellist Julia Hagen and pianist Igor Levit performed trios at Wigmore Hall.

Bach Track: "Capuçon brought his customary taste, refinement and intellect to music he has played many times over the years with a variety of partners. He sees the big picture when he performs and the foreground belongs to him. If this trio were a rock band, Capuçon would be the front man."

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The Week in Reviews, Op. 448: Jessie Montgomery, Daniel Hope, Leonidas Kavakos

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