The Week in Reviews, Op. 457: Anne Akiko Meyers, Gil Shaham, Augustin Hadelich
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 Anne Akiko Meyers. Photo by Ayaka Sano.
Anne Akiko Meyers performed Arturo Marquez’s "Fandango" with the Grant Park Orchestra.
- Chicago Classical Review: "Meyers’ playing, capably supported by Morlot and the orchestra, was as striking as the dedicatee’s silvery-spangled gown. She tossed off the rapid string-crossings and other virtuosic gimcracks with nonchalant panache, sounding perfectly at home in a piece expressly tailored to her talents."
- Third Coast Review: "Anne Akiko Meyers entered the stage for a riveting performance of Fandango by Mexican composer Arturo Márquez, who wrote the piece at Meyers’ request. Standing strong with a determined demeanor, she owned it completely on Wednesday night."
- Splash Magazine: "She’s a dramatic, driven, exciting performer, bowing with strong flourish, turning to the Orchestra, dancing with the “del Gesu”, semi-skipping in place to the alternatively haughty and playful motifs of the concerto’s 3 dance-inspired movements."
Gil Shaham performed the Beethoven Violin Concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood.
- The Berkshire Edge: "Passage work was scaled back to accompanying other instrumental solos in places where other violinists might retain the spotlight to show off their dexterity. Shaham has no need to do this; while he can play circles around other fiddlers, this performance was about relationships and interactions, and the orchestra responded with extra personal commitment."
- Boston Musical Intelligencer: "The performance of the concerto showed virtuosic excellence and dramatic range from both the soloist and the orchestra. In particular, the pianissimos were extremely special; in combination with a surprisingly hushed full house, this allowed Shaham to ravish us with vanishingly soft tones which carried amazingly in the acoustic of the shed."
Augustin Hadelich performed Prokofiev's Concerto No. 2 with the Aspen Festival Orchestra.
- The Aspen Times: "...the violinist spun out the gorgeous, sweet unaccompanied G-minor melody that opens the Prokofiev concerto, the simplicity of it eventually playing deftly against the orchestra’s rhythms."
Bomsori Kim performed the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra at the Concertgebouw.
- Bach Track: "The sheer vigour of her articulation was a wonder to behold, the creamy tone of her highest register and the extraordinary boom of the lower a phenomenon of sound projection."
Please support music in your community by attending a concert or recital whenever you can!
You might also like:
- The Week in Reviews, Op. 456: Augustin Hadelich; James Ehnes; Francesca Dego
- The Week in Reviews, Op. 455: Janine Jansen, Blake Pouliot, Kronos Quartet
- The Week in Reviews, Op. 454: Virgil Boutellis-Taft, Joshua Bell, Veronika Eberle
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Richard, click the linked names of the publications supplying the reviews and you will find your answer.
Thanks Bill!
Sorry for the oversight - I’ve added it - he played the Beethoven. Sounds like a wonderful concert!
I heard Gil Shaham give a very Paganini-inflected rendition of the Beethoven VC a few years ago at the Colorado Music Festival. It was the kind of rendition that's best listened to while wearing a napkin over the head to cover the shameful enjoyment.
I heard cellist Alisa Weilerstein give a pretty disjointed Dvorak concerto with the Colorado Music Festival on Sunday, and she just couldn't get on the same page with the orchestra in terms of staying together. The orchestra played a Mendelssohn's 4th Symphony that could turn on a dime in the same concert, so I would tend to assume it was her that wasn't fitting in, but hard to tell...
Entertaining yet succinct reviews Christian...have you considered writing a book about your life in music?
On a different tack, I think Mendelssohn is undervalued nowadays. There's so much that the ungrateful and ungracious Wagner seems to have absorbed from him. I recently saw 'Meistersinger' and found myself once or twice thinking "Hmm, Mendelssohn would have done that better."
Thanks Richard, I'm not sure how wide an appeal such a project would have, but I think I might title it, "Sitting and Stewing: One Man's Quest to be Opinionated"
I definitely agree on Mendelssohn. The older I get, the more there seems to be under the surface. Wagner hasn't undergone such a reappraisal for me.
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July 10, 2024 at 06:57 AM · Wondering which concerto Gil Shaham was playing. Could you add this detail please, Laurie?