The Week in Reviews, Op. 461: Leila Josefowicz, Blake Pouliot, Black Violin

August 6, 2024, 6:34 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 Leila Josefowicz. Photo by Tom Zimberoff.

Leila Josefowicz performed the West Coast premiere of Scottish composer Helen Grime’s Violin Concerto with the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra.

San Francisco Classical Voice: "(Leila Josefowicz is) among the foremost performers of complex new music for the violin, and she played this concerto with the intense commitment and technical brilliance that she brings to everything."

Blake Pouliot and friends performed at Ottawa Chamberfest.

Capital Current: "Pouliot remained the star of the show throughout. The most remarkable aspect of his performance was his energy. He had a clear musical voice that consistently floated to the top of the music."

Black Violin performed with the Grand Rapids Symphony at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park.

Local Spins: "The overwhelming takeaway of Black Violin’s stage output was that there is value in connection, exploration and curiosity — and what those qualities (plus a whole hell of a lot of practice, talent and hard work) can produce in a creative individual."

Maxim Vengerov performed in recital with pianist Polina Osetinskaya at QPAC Concert Hall in Brisbane.

Limelight: "(In) Prokofiev’s first violin sonata....we saw the real Vengerov and Osetinskaya at work – a show of virtuosity that would be difficult to equal. And this was to be the hallmark for the remainder of the recital, which included Franck’s Violin Sonata in A and Ravel’s rhapsodic Tzigane."

Leila Josefowicz performed John Adams' Violin Concerto with the Music Academy Festival Orchestra in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Santa Barbara Independent: "Adams’ concerto, beautifully and rigorously realized by Josefowicz and all onstage, succeeds on that basic measure of conveying what it’s like to be alive in the modern moment — and with an emotional relevance still fully intact 30 years beyond its birth."

Alexi Kenney and cellist Julie Albers performed Jimmy López's "Guardian of the Horizon" with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, with Pekka Kuusisto conducting.

StarTribune: "...their tightly knitted interplay was riveting, a symbol of unanimity and persistence in eking out solutions to a problematic set of circumstances."

Sayaka Shoji performed Brahms' Violin Concerto with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

Bach Track: "With near flawless intonation, this performance was a pleasure to behold, not least in lightly accompanied passages and the virtuosic Joachim first movement cadenza. "

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Christian Lesniak

August 7, 2024 at 12:57 AM · I went to hear Augustin Hadelich play the Tchaikovsky VC with the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, led by Peter Oundjian, on Thursday, 8/1, and I’ve never heard a more beautiful rendition.

Hadelich’s sound was singing throughout and never pressed - he could always be heard, and his sound was always beautiful. The pacing was generally towards the brisker side, rather than a big RUSSIAN interpretation, but there was so much subtlety in taking small changes in the tempo, which really speaks to the sympathy that the soloist and orchestra had. Whenever Hadelich dropped the dynamic down, the orchestra really gave him space by dropping theirs.

And Hadelich also carefully listened and adjusted to the orchestra; if he wanted to push the tempo forward a little more than the orchestra, it seemed like he might try, and if it didn't take, he would immediately adjust. Everything was in the right place, and all the passagework still had this shaping and phrasing, so nothing ever sounded cursory.

And I never thought I'd say this, but the flutist in orchestra, who I believe is Viviana Cumplido Wilson from the Phoenix Symphony, had the most beautiful warm sound I've heard from an instrument I don't usually care for. All of her solos were very lovingly given.

The Dvorak 7th Symphony, on the other hand, I thought was a pretty perfunctory rendition. Not too much variation in dynamics, and pretty four-square from a tempo perspective. Nothing wrong with it, but it didn't do the symphony's charm justice.

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The Week in Reviews, Op. 461: Leila Josefowicz, Blake Pouliot, Black Violin

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