Leonidas Kavakos, Enrico Pace, Wigmore Hall | reviews, news & interviews
Leonidas Kavakos, Enrico Pace, Wigmore Hall
Leonidas Kavakos, Enrico Pace, Wigmore Hall
A revelatory duo partnership excels in Prokofiev and Schubert
Monday, 17 January 2011
Leonidas Kavakos: A great soloist, but an even greater duo partner working with a first-rate pianistYannis Bournias
No doubt about it, Leonidas Kavakos is one of the world's top 10 live-wire violinists. But here in London he seems to have sold himself a bit short recently with a less than great concerto repertoire (Korngold, Szymanowski's Second). Korngold furnished a springy intermezzo in last night's blockbuster recital, Szymanowski a ravishing second encore, but I went to hear two giddying masterpieces, Prokofiev's First Violin Sonata and Schubert's Fantasy in C. If unknown quantity Enrico Pace could manage to play Richter to Kavakos's David Oistrakh, it might turn out to be awe-inspiring. He did, so it was.
No doubt about it, Leonidas Kavakos is one of the world's top 10 live-wire violinists. But here in London he seems to have sold himself a bit short recently with a less than great concerto repertoire (Korngold, Szymanowski's Second). Korngold furnished a springy intermezzo in last night's blockbuster recital, Szymanowski a ravishing second encore, but I went to hear two giddying masterpieces, Prokofiev's First Violin Sonata and Schubert's Fantasy in C. If unknown quantity Enrico Pace could manage to play Richter to Kavakos's David Oistrakh, it might turn out to be awe-inspiring. He did, so it was.
Kavakos trod the air provided by his pianist, carolling and soaring in some of the gayest and most elated music ever composed
Share this article
Add comment
The future of Arts Journalism
You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!
We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d
And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take a subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
more Classical music
Classical CDs: Vitamins, kings and magic spells
A neglected ballet score, romantic piano concertos and contemporary British music
Kavakos, Philharmonia, Blomstedt, RFH review - a supreme valediction forbidding mourning
Nonagenarian conductor provides the flow, his players the passion, in Mahler's Ninth
Perianes, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Payare, Barbican review - elegance and drama but not enough bite
Often dynamic Venezuelan conductor misses the darkness of the 'Symphonie fantastique'
La Serenissima, Wigmore Hall review - an Italian menu to savour
Tasty Baroque discoveries, tastefully delivered
Roman Rabinovich, Wigmore Hall review - full tone in four styles
Fascinating Haydn, Debussy and Schumann, odd Beethoven
Wyn, Dwyer, McAteer, RSNO & Choirs, Diakun, Usher Hall, Edinburgh review - ebullient but bitty
‘Carmina Burana’ is fun in parts, but Langer’s ‘Dong’ doesn’t flow
Gerhardt, BBC Philharmonic, Chauhan, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - from grief to peace
Anna Clyne, Shostakovich and Richard Strauss tell us about loss, struggle and healing
Bach Brandenburg Concertos, OAE, QEH review - forever young
Zest, dash and fun in rejuvenated favourites
First Person: Alec Frank-Gemmill on reasons for another recording of the Mozart horn concertos
On ignoring the composer's 'Basta, basta!' above the part for the original soloist
Andrej Power, LSO, Mäkelä, Barbican review - singing, shrieking rites of darkness and light
Radical masterpieces by Sibelius and Stravinsky have never sounded more extraordinary
Mailley-Smith, Piccadilly Sinfonietta, St Mary-le-Strand review - music in a resurgent venue
Neglected London church now the home of a vibrant concert series
Classical CDs: Mandolins, multiphonics and multiple pianos
Classical horn concertos, a Gallic record label celebrated and Seventies pop meets the French baroque
Comments
...
...