The Week in Reviews, Op. 1: Mutter, Kaler, Beilman in concert

September 24, 2013 at 5:32 PM

We'd like to introduce a new weekly feature we'll be trying out on Violinist.com: a collection of links to reviews of live performances by violinists from the past week.

Live performance is the heart of the violin community. With so many newspapers cutting back on reviewing classical music, we want to reward those publications that do support the arts through reviews by directing your attention to them. Our round-ups will not be limited to newspaper websites, however. We'll link to reviews of professional violin performances wherever we find them. (If you are a music critic, publicist or performer, please feel welcomed to make our work here a bit easier and email relevant links to robert@violinist.com.)

Here's our first go:

Anne-Sophie Mutter performed the Dvorak with the Birmingham (UK) Symphony Orchestra (The Coventry Telegraph): "This was searing, full-bloodied stuff."

Ilya Kaler performed the Barber with the Spokane (WA) Symphony (The Spokesman-Review): "One could hope for no more elegant or persuasive a soul than Kaler."

Kazuhiro Takagi performed the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in D minor with the Dallas Chamber Symphony (D Magazine): "Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in D minor—not to be confused with that composer’s later, masterful Violin Concerto in E minor—provided a generally successful showcase for the orchestra’s new concert master, Tokyo-based Kazuhiro Takagi."

Benjamin Beilman performed Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major and Lutoslawski's "Chain 2" with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (Violinist.com): "Beilman put his own, thoroughly convincing mark on the Mozart..."

We'd like to welcome Violinist.com readers to help us with this effort, too. When you attend a concert featuring a professional violinist, don't let it go unreviewed! Please feel welcomed to post a descriptive review of the performance here on Violinist.com, or your own blog or website. Then send us the link!

Are you looking forward to an upcoming violin performance near you? Please tell us about it, in the comments.

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