The Week in Reviews, Op. 236: Stefan Jackiw; Nicola Benedetti; 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.Stefan Jackiw performed the Brahms Violin Concerto with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

• The Dominion Post: "Brahms is not easy to bring off, yet both orchestra and soloist, playing very much from the same page, brought out all the Concerto's powerful optimism, leavened by a fine poetry in the slow movement."
• New Zealand Herald: "The spry soloist, Stefan Jackiw roved the work's expansive first movement, exploring every thematic nook and cranny with his orchestral colleagues and the Joachim cadenza was very much his own, thanks to its remarkable sense of improvisation. The Adagio, impeccably autumnal from its first bar, had Jackiw extending the composer's soaring lines into passionate exchanges with the musicians around him."

Nicola Benedetti performed Shostakovich Concerto No. 1 with the London Symphony Orchestra.

• theartsdesk.com: "Shostakovich is ideal for Nicola Benedetti. His music requires effortless and understated virtuosity, as well as a confident and commanding maturity of interpretation. Benedetti has been demonstrating these qualities since her late teens, and all were evident in this reading of the First Violin Concerto, which proved an intense and compelling listening experience."

Anne Akiko Meyers performed Ravel’s Tzigane and other works with the Pacific Symphony.

• LAOpus.com: "...the long opening Lento quasi cadenza solo,...she projected with raw, passionate intensity....she triumphed over Ravel’s bristling difficulties."

Patricia Kopatchinskaja directed and performed in the Ojai Music Festival.

• The New Yorker: "The concerts were heavy going at times, but Kopatchinskaja invested them with vital purpose."

Anne-Sophie Mutter performed the Tchaikovsky Concerto with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

• J-Wire: "Her playing exudes power with warmth and passion which she achieves with intelligent use and fullness of the bow to great effect. Her glissandi, prominent at the start are tasteful, enhancing the character of the piece that Tchaikovsky must surely have intended."

Maureen Nelson performed "The Lark Ascending" with the Astoria Music Festival Orchestra.

• The Daily Astorian: "...the hush was palpable in the auditorium as her controlled bow-work and fleet fingering coaxed the sweetest, highest notes of pastoral reverence out of the British composer’s masterwork. As it concluded, the standing ovation surely tested whether the historic theater’s roof was fastened on properly."

Miranda Cuckson performed a program of duos with pianist Ethan Iverson as part of the Modern Piano (+) Festival.

• New York Times: "But a tiny laboratory like Spectrum surely enables these artists to renew themselves and take chances."

Please support music in your community by attending a concert or recital whenever you can! You might also like:

• Violinist.com Interview with Stefan Jackiw
• Interview: Discovering Szymanowski's Violin Concerto No. 1 with Anne Akiko Meyers
• Interview with Nicola Benedetti: Wynton Marsalis's New Violin Concerto