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.![Lisa Batiashvili]()
Violinist Lisa Batiashvili. Photo by Elizabeth Asher, courtesy of the LA Phil.Lisa Batiashvili performed the Beethoven Violin Concerto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.Gary Levinson, violist Iakov Zats, pianist Anton Nel and cellist Robert deMaine performed for the Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth.
Violist Choong-Jin Chang performed Martinus Rhapsody-Concerto with the Philadelphia Orchestra (in October).
Violinist Lisa Batiashvili. Photo by Elizabeth Asher, courtesy of the LA Phil.
- Violinist.com: "Nothing seemed to stop the momentum that she created in any given passage, it felt sure and inevitable, all with expertly calibrated dynamics."
- San Francisco Classical Voice: "Drawing a light, sweet tone from her 1739 Guarneri del Gesù violin, Batiashvilis characterization was committed to exploring every hill and crevice of the score."
- Bach Track: "His remarkable ability to spin and caress melodies found an ideal vehicle for expression in Dvorák's score. Whether melancholic or merry, Shaham's violin was never overly assertive, and the dialogues with the woodwinds remained consistently well balanced, with bravura never being the objective."
- Texas Classical Review: "Levinson and cellist Robert deMaine provided a bravura bonus piece with Johan Halvorsens arrangement of the passacaglia from Handels Harpsichord Suite in G Minor. The piece unfurled like a series of cascading waves as the two players infused successive iterations of the underlying harmonic pattern with florid scalar runs, dazzling arpeggios, rapid-fire pizzicato gestures, and ardent melodies in the fervent adagio section."
- The Boston Musical Intelligencer: "Major-minor schemes and happy-sad themes resonated in fuller force than usual as Boston Baroques leader retires at the seasons end."
- The Strad: "The piece is more contemplative than virtuosic, though Changs expertise in the florid passages gave him more than a few show-stopping moments."
- The Strad: "At a time when violin concerto writing often feels boxed in by lack of imagination or development, both Adámek and Faust showed that the grammar of modernism can still reinvent old forms and tell new stories for our time."
- The Strad: "At this point, Jessie Montgomerys Strum (2006) is perhaps an early candidate for classic, given the frequency of performances....Tate translated Fés timbres for string quartet, and his reinterpretation gives vibrant new life to the originals gently percussive results....If anything, the Dvorák gained even more poignancy from the fascinating preface."
- The Week in Reviews, Op. 481: Ray Chen, Georg Kallweit, H + H Society
- The Week in Reviews, Op. 480: Andrew Bird, Leonidas Kavakos, cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason
- The Week in Reviews, Op. 479: Gil Shaham, Randall Goosby, Leonidas Kavakos
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