The Week in Reviews, Op. 494: Julia Fischer, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Kronos Quartet

April 1, 2025, 12:17 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. Click on the highlighted links to read the entire reviews.

Violinist Julia Fischer.

Julia Fischer performed in recital with pianist Jan Lisiecki in Boston.

Boston Classical Review: "...sparks and fireworks flew pretty much from the get-go. Fischer’s command of her instrument is total. The Munich-born musician’s bow arm is a miracle of discipline: every phrase, articulation, tone color, and dynamic is utterly controlled and applied with utmost musical intelligence. The precision of her left hand is no less impressive."

Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider performed Bruch's Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, also serving as conductor for the concert.

Chicago Classical Review: "That the opening Bruch concerto provided the highlight of the evening shouldn’t be surprising since the Danish musician was a superb, highly acclaimed violinist before he took up the baton. What was surprising was how well he finessed both duties, delivering a fresh and engaging performance with the CSO of this tuneful fiddle warhorse."

The Kronos Quartet performed at Carnegie Hall.

New York Classical Review: "...the Kronos Quartet came to Carnegie’s Zankel Hall in typical fashion, with a fistful of New York premieres and one world premiere."
New York Times: "The vibrant performance was not only the ensemble’s return to a space it reliably fills with devoted fans; with the quartet’s ranks refreshed by three brilliant new players, it also felt like a comeback."

Anne Akiko Meyers performed Arturo Marquez' "Fandango" with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Keitaro Harada.

Cincinnati Business Courier: "The concerto offered nonstop challenges for the violinist, who soared through its Paganini-like difficulties with ease and expressive beauty....The intensity of her playing, which was always meticulous, kept the listener riveted from beginning to end."
Classical Concert Reviews Cinci: "While all three movements were full of rhythmic ideas that were firmly rooted in the traditional fandango style...there was also a distinctive freshness about it, no doubt thanks to the technical virtuosity Meyers put on display calling to mind composers such as Samuel Barber and Aram Khachaturian. "

Théotime Langlois de Swarte performed a program of Italian Baroque works with Les Arts Florissants in Toronto.

Ludwig van Toronto: "Many have attempted to make the Four Seasons anew, yet this particular performance succeeded by simply changing the pulse of the pizzicato — simple changes can be so stunning.... It was an exhilarating evening, and it is exciting to see how young de Swarte and LAF continue to ignite the passion for beauty in all of us"

Akiko Suwanai performed Guillaume Connesson’s Lost Horizons Violin Concerto with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Stéphane Denève.

The St. Louis American: "A conversation about Connesson’s violin concerto, which deserves to become a repertory piece, has to start with the lead violin part, brilliantly performed at the Touhill by Akiko Suwanai. Though marked by passages, such as the conclusion of almost inhumanly possible virtuosity, the violin pulsed within a dynamic, at times frenetic, ensemble. Connesson also wrote beautifully lyric violin lines, typically shadowed and shaded by woodwinds."

Alexander Velinzon and Lucia Lin performed Arvo Pärt’s "Tabula rasa" with the Boston Symphony and Dima Slobodeniouk.

Boston Classical Review: "BSO violinists Alexander Velinzon and Lucia Lin dispatched the unforgivingly exposed solo parts with a mix of delicacy and fearlessness."
Boston Musical Intelligencer: "The two excellent soloists in this double concerto, plucked from the BSO first violin section, were Lucia Lin and Alexander Velinzon.... it clearly resonated with much of the audience who stood and cheered."

Isabelle van Keulen performed Schumann's Violin Concerto in D minor with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

Bach Track: "...this concert's director Isabelle van Keulen...took center stage as soloist in a performance of Schumann's Violin Concerto in D minor - (her) dark, swirling opening movement suited the orchestra down to a T, moving like a slow whirlpool of kinetic energy out of which the solo violin emerged organically rather than storming onto the center stage."

Gil Shaham performed the Brahms Violin Concerto with the San Francisco Symphony and Juraj Valcuha.

San Francisco Classical Voice: "His playing was breathless and rhythmically frank, the runs free and easy."

Alina Ibragimova performed Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1 with the London Philharmonic.

Slipped Disc: "The Prokofiev first violin concerto was dashed off by Ibragimova with gymnastic knee bends and a huge smile that she kept sharing with the first desk of violins, all of them women. Her bubbling enthusiasm made a welcome contrast to the ice-queen soloists who mostly play this piece."

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The Week in Reviews, Op. 494: Julia Fischer, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Kronos Quartet

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