Search - Richard [1] Strauss, Igor Stravinsky, Bela Bartok :: Strauss Bartok Stravinsky

With this record, Vadim Repin proves again that he is one of the finest, most appealing young violinists before the public. His idiomatic flair and virtuosity are stunning, but they are always at the service of the music and so unobtrusive that one simply takes them for granted. It is his tone that is instantly striking and constantly compelling: intoxicatingly beautiful, it has a dark glow in the low register, a shimmering, celestial radiance on top, and he can vary its color and intensity in an instant with bow and vibrato, from sweet to austere, floating to powerful, robust to ecstatic, to fit mood, character and expression. The unanimous rapport between him and his splendid pianist, Boris Beresovsky, is clearly the result of a long partnership; their give-and-take is as natural as human speech. They must be about the same age as Strauss was when he wrote his Sonata; they respond to its romantic ardor and impetuous exuberance with just the right youthful, passionate abandon. The slow movement has a wonderfully wistful inwardness, as well as lightness and charm; the finale soars and glitters. The Stravinsky has lots of color, character, atmosphere, spice, and humor; the dances really dance, the melodies sing. Somehow, Tchaikovsky's and Stravinsky's styles manage to complement rather than interfere with each other. If the Bartók Dances are a little overdone, it serves to bring out their native folk flavor. --Edith Eisler