The Week in Reviews, Op. 242: Paul Huang, Ray Chen, Giora Schmidt

October 16, 2018, 12:26 PM · 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.

Paul Huang performed the Barber Violin Concerto with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.

The Buffalo News: "His technique was splendid, and his playing was pure and straightforward. The violin he was playing (the 1742 ex-Wieniawski Guarneri del Gesu, once owned by the great Polish virtuoso Henryk Wieniawski) added another dimension."
Buffalo Rising: "The way violinist Paul Huang played it and JoAnn Falletta conducted it was as if I’d never heard it before."

Paul Huang. Photo by Marco Borggreve.

Ray Chen performed the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with the National Symphony Orchestra.

Washington Post: "There’s a taut aggression to his playing, an edge that sounds almost amplified that sends his low notes echoing out over the orchestra, but it seemed overly strenuous, trying to add blood and guts to a concerto that invites its soloist to trip delicately across the high-wire."
Washington Classical Review: "Chen counted on fast tempos and dramatic gestures to make the piece exciting, unfortunately neglecting other musical details in the process. "

Giora Schmidt performed Violin Concerto No. 5 by Vieuxtemps with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

Atlanta Journal Constitution: "In his debut with the ASO, violinist Giora Schmidt gave an impressive technical performance of the bravura Vieuxtemps concerto, mixing moments of sweet sentimentality into the dazzling, and dizzying, spectacle."
ArtsATL: "Schmidt’s playing is quite likable, but this particular brief concerto seemed not a great choice as platform for his ASO debut..."

Augustin Hadelich performed the Dvorák Violin Concerto with the San Antonio Symphony.

MySanAntonio.com: "Dvorák’s Violin Concerto is one of the lesser known works by the Czech composer. But in the hands of Hadelich and Gersen, the performance made a strong argument that the concerto should be programmed as often as other Dvorák masterpieces."

Cho-Liang Lin performed Mozart’s Violin Concerto no. 3 with the Apollo Orchestra.

Washington Classical Review: "...his Mozart was characteristic of the poetry and thoughtfulness that have worn so well throughout his career. Not that virtuosity was missing in this performance: the cadenzas were dazzling but carefully within the boundaries of classical balance—particularly the second movement cadenza, in which Lin spun out filigrees of sound with breathtaking calm and patience."

Barnabás Kelemen performed Erno Dohnányi’s Violin Concerto No 1 with the BBC Orchestra.

The Scotsman: "There was certainly complete self-belief in violinist Barnabás Kelemen’s big-hearted performance. He powered his way relentlessly through the music, digging venomously into the myriad spread chords, fearless of the music’s dazzling challenges. But there was something roughshod, too, in the inconsistency of his tone and some questionable intonation. A kind of accident-prone bravado."
The Herald: "From the first movement cadenza, underscored only by Gordon Rigby’s timpani roll, to the fiddle fireworks of the finale, Kelemen was quite superb once again. Stylistically, however, the concerto is a strange work, lush and romantic in its slow movement and finale, but with a Scherzo that seems more from the years of the First World War, which is when it was composed."

Kiril Laskarov performed the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with the Texarkana Symphony Orchestra.

Texarkana Gazette: "Laskarov's playing feels simultaneously dreamy and earthy, a sound that effortlessly carried the listener along the entirety of this work."

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