The Week in Reviews, Op. 178: Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, Anne Akiko Meyers

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. Itzhak Perlman performed Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

• Cincinnati Enquirer: "Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto in G Minor is a staple of every major artist. Yet, its beauty, as it unfolded in streams of melody, seemed tailor-made for Perlman’s sweet tone and rapturous phrasing."

Joshua Bell performed the Tchaikovsky with Academy of the St Martin in the Fields.

• WA Today: "Beyond the fireworks, he and his ensemble fashion a deeply moving reading of Tchaikovsky's love letter. It's not always clear how the ensemble hang on, but they do, picking up Bell's leads like someone jumping onto a moving train. Breathless and breathtaking."
• The AU Review: "Virtuoso Bell is truly dazzling leading the orchestra."

Anne Akiko Meyers performed in recital with pianist Akira Eguchi at Kaufmann Concert Hall in New York.

• BlogCritics.org: "With its commissions and personal dedications, the concert felt like a family affair as well as a musical celebration. Both musicians are at the tops of their games."

Robert Chen performed Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

• Chicago Classical Review: "Chen gave the opening theme—meant to represent Geyer herself—elevated treatment and the extended wanderings of the opening Andante sostenuto had a beseeching quality, with delicate interplay between the soloist and his supportive colleagues."
• Chicago Tribune: "Chen deployed his silken tone and throbbing vibrato to tenderly expressive effect in the opening movement, where the love-struck Bartok opens his heart in floods of passionate lyricism. He then dug into the capricious second movement with more than enough vivacity to keep the music perking right up to the double bar."

Isabelle Faust performed two Mozart concertos with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

• The Guardian: "...a detailed performance from Faust that balanced grace with latent energy."

Gil Shaham performed Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra.

• The Columbus Dispatch: "There is nothing like observing a master at work, and Shaham’s performance of Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 last night conveyed profound artistry and humanity."

Sergey Khachatryan performed the Beethoven with the National Symphony Orchestra.

• The Washington Post: "I was sorry...to feel that this particular performance of the Beethoven simply failed to connect."

Daniel Hope performed works by Bach and Mendelssohn with the Basel Chamber Orchestra.

• The Guardian: "The teenage Mendelssohn was clearly influenced by 18th-century Sturm und Drang, although the D minor Concerto doesn’t quite warrant the hell-for-leather aggression with which Hope initially tore into it."

Andrs Crdenas performed the Glazunov with the Sinfonia da Camera.

• The News-Gazette: "(Glazunov's) 1904 "Violin Concerto," Opus 82, is a short, modest, but highly rewarding virtuoso piece, especially with the energy and finesse of Andrs Crdenas."

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