The Week in Reviews, Op. 150: Hilary Hahn, Lisa Batiashvili, Simone Lamsma

By Laurie Niles: 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. Hilary Hahn performed the Beethoven Violin Concerto with the Cincinnati Symphony.

• Cincinnati Inquirer (warning: review is behind an ad wall): "Violinist Hilary Hahn so moved her audience at the Taft Theatre Saturday night with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra that she performed two encores instead of one....Hahn’s bright, clear as a bell sound – she plays a violin by Jean Baptiste Vuillame once played by Paganini – filled the hall with well-defined and distinct beauty, plus fine dynamic control. Her legato bowing was seamless and, aided by Langrée’s sympathetic conducting, she could descend into the softest passages and still be heard." (Note: Hahn's Vuillaume violin is a replica of Paganini's 1864 "Cannone" Guarneri del Gesù)

Lisa Batiashvili performed the Tchaikovsky with the New York Philharmonic.

• New York Classical Review: "The violinist’s tone was clear and vibrant, especially in folk-dance tunes down on the G string, and she took extra time in all the right places, but her accomplished playing didn’t convey much of the tender sentiment and intimacy of this fundamentally lyrical piece."

Simone Lamsma performed the Brahms with the Dallas Symphony.

• Theater Jones: "Lamsma seems to have well-defined ideas about phrasing and rubato, creating a pleasing sense of musical unity. Her technique is rock-solid, as well—she handled the considerable difficulties of the Brahms concerto with ease. She does not have a huge sound, however, and her vibrato was a bit frantic."
• The Dallas Morning News: "A tone more granular than usual these days struck my ears right away, and some arpeggio figurations were dispatched as mere notes, not notes than went anywhere or meant anything. I never did get used to a rapid-fire vibrato applied too automatically; when vibrato is right, you don't notice it. She soon displayed a lovely way with high-flown lines and delicate pianissimos, though, and she dispatched the finale with dazzling clarity."

Nicola Benedetti performed two Szymanowski violin concertos with the London Philharmonic.

• The Arts Desk: "She applies a rich but varied vibrato to much of the music, sometimes wide and fast, but just as often narrow and slow. The result is a tone and expression as varied as that of the orchestra beneath. She also has the sheer aural presence required to command those expansive orchestral textures, and Jurowksi, while always sympathetic, never felt the need to constrain the ensemble for her."

Ryu Goto performed the Tchaikovsky with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra.

• Philippine Daily Inquirer: "In Tchaikovsky’s “Violin Concerto,” the PPO forged a debonair collaboration with the featured Japanese violinist, Ryu Goto, whose dashing youthful looks ensured a magnetic presence on stage. Goto played the concerto with an impressive dispatch even though the concerto was considered unplayable a long time ago."

Andrej Kurti performed the Tchaikovsky with the Waco Symphony Orchestra.

• Waco Tribune-Herald: "His fluid play sometimes lacked clarity, with notes sliding and slurring into each other, but his rapid fingering and bowing mastered the work’s more challenging passages. The highest notes of his violin’s register — a violin crafted by Hewitt luthier Tim Johnson, incidentally — seemed to float effortlessly into the hall."

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