Search - Prokofiev, Neeme Jarvi, Scottish National Orchestra :: Prokofiev: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2; Violin Sonata No. 1

Mordkovitch creates eerie moods like no one else

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 01/06/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD is all about Lydia Mordkovitch and how you respond to her moody, edgy style. I was put off by it when she recorded the two Shostakovich concertos, but here her acerbic approach removes the candy-coated gloss from Prokofiev's violin writing. Mordkovitch was born in Russia but established her reputation in England, where she have lived since 1980. Now 65, she is called an Oistrakh protegee, yet she doesn't aim for his powerful rounded tone or his centrist interpretations. She is highly individual in her phrasing. ?Therefore, in the history of these two concertos, she falls much closer to the brilliant, idiosyncratic Joseph Szigeti (absent Szigeti's faulty tuning) than to polished interpreters like Perlman and Shaham.



I can't, of course, transmit what makes Mordkovitch's style so arresting. She's aided by Jarvi's very accomplished accompaniment, which easily surpasses Previn's for Shaham on DG. The recorded sound is open, airy, and detailed -- quite perfect, in fact. These ingratiating works don't lack for superb recordings, my favorite being Cho-Liang Lin's on Sony with Salonen. Mordkovitch is unequalled in creating eerie, haunting moods, however. The edge-of-the-bow metallic tone at times is like delivering an electric shock. She occupies a special place in the Prokofiev library."