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Menuhin Competition Austin 2014: And the Winner is…Stephen Waarts!

By Paul E. Robinson on 2 March 2014 Concert Reviews, Orchestral, Strings

by Paul E. Robinson(Left to right): Gordon Back (Artistic Director of the Menuhin Competition);Stephen Waarts (Winner); and Jury Chair Pamela Franks Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in e minor Op. 64Finalist: Christine Seohyun Lim (Age 19; American-Korean)Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major Op. 19Finalist: Stephen Kim (Age 18; American)Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 2 in g minor Op. 63Finalist: Stephen Waarts (Age 17; American-Dutch)Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major Op. 19Finalist: In Mo Yang (Age 18; Korean)Austin Symphony Orchestra/Peter BayLong Center for the Performing ArtsAustin, TexasMarch 1, 2014After eight days of grueling competition, four young violinists between the ages of…

Menuhin Competition Austin 2014: Junior Section Prize Winners Selected

By Paul E. Robinson on 1 March 2014 La Scena Spotlight, Orchestral, Strings

by Paul E. RobinsonMenuhin Competition Austin 2014 Winners (Junior Division)(Left to right) Ludwig Gudim (3rd Prize); Daniel Lozakovitj (2nd Prize); Rennosuke Fukuda (1st Prize);Jaewon Wee (5th Prize); Alex Zhou (4th Prize)Friday night at the Butler School of Music in Austin, TX, seven young violinists between the ages of 12 and 14, competed for prizes in the Junior Section of the Menuhin Competition Austin 2014. Among the countries represented were the United States, Korea, Japan, Sweden, and Norway. In this final round the contestants chose one 10-minute piece from a list of four works by Sarasate, Saint-Saëns, Waxman and Wieniawski. Each…

Four Competitors Reach Seniors Section Finals at Menuhin Competition Austin 2014

By Paul E. Robinson on 28 February 2014 Concert Reviews, Orchestral, Strings

by Paul E. RobinsonSenior Finalists in Menuhin Competition Austin 2014(Left to right): In Mo Yang (18, Korean); Stephen Kim (18, American); Stephen Waarts (17, American/Dutch); Christine Seohyun Lim (19, American/Korean)The excitement is mounting as the Menuhin Competition Austin 2014 heads towards the finish line. In the senior division (16-21 years old) nine young violinists competed yesterday in the semi-finals; each one performed brilliantly, but by late in the evening only four remained in the hunt for prizes.In these semi-finals each performer was required to take the first violinist’s chair in the Miró Quartet and lead several movements of a Haydn quartet. Then followed…

Menuhin Competition Austin 2014: Jury Members Dazzle in Performance!

By Paul E. Robinson on 26 February 2014 Concert Reviews, Orchestral, Piano, Violin

by Paul E. Robinson Mozart: Sonata for Piano and Violin in G major K. 301Kreisler: La Gitane/Londonderry Air/Tambourin ChinoisJoji Hattori, violin/Gordon Back, pianoPiazzola: Historie du Tango and Café Joji Hattori, violin/Adam Holzman, guitarGang Chen: Sunshine in TasikuerganSaint-Saëns: Sonata for Violin and Piano Op. 75Lu Siqing, violin/Anton Nel, pianoBates Recital Hall/Butler School of MusicUniversity of TexasAustin, TexasMonday, February 24, 2014One of the many benefits of having a major music competition in town is the opportunity to hear performances by some of the jury members. In the case of the Menuhin Competition Austin 2014, these included Joji Hattori and Lu Siqing, surely two…

Video of the Day – Menuhin Competition Austin 2014

By Paul E. Robinson on 24 February 2014 Video of the day, Violin

For the first time ever the Menuhin Violin Competition is being held this year in the United States. The current competition began last Friday in Austin, Texas and continues until Sunday, March 2. Forty-two young violinists from all over the world are competing for prizes and a chance to appear with the Cleveland Orchestra in the closing gala concert. I’ll be blogging from the competition every few days. The first blog about the opening concert has already been posted on the LSM website.Yehudi Menuhin (1916- 1999 ) was one of the great violinists of his time. At the age of eleven he…

Menuhin Competition Austin 2014 Opens with UT Symphony Concert

By Paul E. Robinson on 23 February 2014 Concert Reviews, Orchestral, Violin

by Paul E. RobinsonBerlioz: Roman Carnival OvertureMendelssohn: Concerto for Piano and Violin in d minorIlya Gringolts, violin/Anton Nel, pianoWaxman: Carmen FantasyKevin Zhu, violinSchwantner: Someday MemoriesDutilleux: Sur le même accordOlivier Charlier, violinStravinsky: Firebird Suite (1919)The University of Texas (UT) Symphony OrchestraGerhardt Zimmermann, conductorLong Center for the Performing ArtsAustin, TexasFriday, February 21, 2014I guess it’s fate that a mere conductor in a violin competition should have his name left off the program; sad to say, that was indeed the case for Maestro Gerhardt Zimmermann at the Opening Concert of the Menuhin Competition Austin 2014. But it wasn’t quite as bad as all…

Bay/ASO and Jonathan Biss: Under the Influence

By Paul E. Robinson on 12 February 2014 Concert Reviews, Orchestral, Piano, Romantic, Violin

by Paul E. RobinsonVaughan Williams: The Lark AscendingSchumann: Piano Concerto in a minor Op. 54Brahms: Symphony No. 2 in D major Op. 73Jessica Mathaes, violinJonathan Biss, pianoAustin Symphony Orchestra/Peter BayLong Center for the Performing ArtsAustin, TXFebruary 8, 2014I have been spending a lot of time lately with Jonathan Biss – not the man himself, but his website. Mr. Biss is a 33-year-old American pianist of great distinction who also writes well about music. Biss has been particularly eloquent on the subjects of Beethoven and Schumann. He is recording all the Beethoven sonatas and has written a book (Beethoven’s Shadow) about…

Elgar Conducts Elgar The Complete Recordings 1914-1925

By Paul E. Robinson on 5 January 2014 CD and Book Reviews, Orchestral, Romantic, Strings

Elgar Conducts Elgar The Complete Recordings 1914-1925, Elgar: Symphony No. 2/Violin Concerto (Marie Hall)/Cello Concerto (Beatrice Harrison)/Sea Pictures (Leila Megane)/Cockaigne Overture/In the South Overture, etc. Symphony Orchestra/Royal Albert Hall Orchestra/Sir Edward Elgar Producer & Transfer/Restoration Engineer: Lani Spahr Music & Arts CD-1257(4)(296 m 2 s)For collectors this is a gold mine of historic recordings. For music lovers – not so much. These are recordings from the acoustical era, and Elgar went on to make much better-sounding recordings of nearly all the same pieces using the electrical microphone. Frankly, ploughing through many of these performances is almost painful. Given the primitive…

“Shelter” Songs for Soprano and Cello. Music by Previn, Tavener, Honstein, Heggie and Rachmaninov

By Paul E. Robinson on 23 December 2013 CD and Book Reviews, Chamber Music, Piano, Strings

Mela Dailey, soprano; Scott Kluksdahl, cello; Rick Rowley, pianoPierian 0047 (64 m 44 s)****Recital albums featuring young sopranos are not uncommon. But what makes this new release exceptional is the unusual choice of repertoire and the high quality of the performances.Who would have thought of putting together an album of contemporary music for soprano and cello? And who would have thought that the music for this combination could be of such high quality?Andre Previn’s Four Songs for Soprano, Cello and Piano of 1994 are settings of poems by Toni Morrison. These are beautiful songs, recalling Britten in their transparency, and…

Video of the Day – Jansen and Gergiev Play Szymanowski

By Paul E. Robinson on 14 October 2013 Contemporary, Orchestral, Video of the day, Violin

Valery Gergiev recently wowed audiences in Montreal and Toronto with his Mariinsky Orchestra. He is also music director of the London Symphony. With the LSO last month at the Barbican in London he collaborated with violinist Janine Jansen in the Violin Concerto No. 1 by Karol Szymanowski (1883-1937). To judge by this video it was a beautiful performance of a neglected masterpiece. The work was composed in 1917 when Szymanowski was 34.Note that Gergiev appears to be using the shortest baton ever used by a major conductor. Why bother with any baton at all?Paul E. Robinson

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