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It is always interesting to look at what a young soloist has recorded - and then see what they will choose to play in recital.  Julia Fischer's recordings mark her as a "serious" artist who is choosing to pursue a "serious" career.  It's easy for a new hot violinist to record the Mendelssohn and the Tchaikovsky concerti as their calling card.  Not Julia Fischer.  Her first four recordings were Brahms' Piano Quartets, Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Russian Concerti (Khachaturian, Prokofiev and Glazunov), and then the capper, the Bach Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin.  An artist who chooses the Bach Sonatas and Partitas announces to the world that they are a very serious artist indeed and not one to make 'gooey' crossover albums.  The Bach works are considered the touchstones of violin literature and have been recorded by most of the great violinists such as Menuhin, Heifetz, Milstein and others.  Kansas City heard some of Fischer's Bach when she performed the Bach Violin Concerti with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields back in February (also on the Harriman-Jewell Series).  So, I was looking forward to hearing her in solo recital and anxious to hear what this "serious" artist would choose for her program. 

I had actually hope that she would start out with one of the little solo Bach works, but Fischer began with the equivalent of a warm-up piece; Mozart's sunny and delightful Sonata No. 1 in C Major, K. 296.  Most people will remember that Mozart played the piano in the movie, Amadeus, but few will remember that he was also an accomplished violinist.  He once wrote to his father regarding a performance in which he played the violin that it "went like oil" by which I assume he meant it went smoothly - as did Ms. Fischer's performance of this work. 

Another thing I look for in a young soloist is the choice and quality of their piano accompanist.  Milana Chernyavska was an equal partner who played with the piano lid fully open.  Her excellent playing enhanced the experience of the concert.  Some may have thought her playing was too assertive but I found Fischer's tone always soared through the piano sound.

Ending the first half of the program was Prokofiev's first of two sonatas for violin, the Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in F minor, Op. 80.  Both sonatas were dedicated to Prokofiev's friend, David Oistrakh, who in his day did much to popularize them in performance and recordings.  I have been listening to different recordings of this sonata all week.  It is a powerful piece of music and it took me several listenings to warm up to this work.  It is a thorny, challenging, aggressive piece of music and I enoyed the way Fischer lived up to the challenge but still brought a lot of individual color to the way she played it.

Beginning the second half was Beethoven's Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 8 in G Major, Op. 30/3.  Fischer could have picked either the Spring or the Kreutzer sonatas as an easy and audience-pleasing choice, but I think the No. 8 was perfect. In my opinion, it is one of his best; under-appreciated, as well as under-performed.  Full of singing melodies, sparkling passages, humor and lightness, there is little of Beethoven's signature sturm und drang. 

Truthfully, I had never heard the Martinu Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 3, H. 303 before this evening and was unable to locate a recording in time to listen to it beforehand.  It is a very accessible romantic violin sonata with a cheerful and playful first movement, a lovely melodic second movement, a bouncy and bright third movement with lots of syncopated rhythms. And although the fourth movement began on a somber note, it picked up steam and led to an intense and dramatic conclusion.  I thought the two musicians played it beautifully, and I and the rest of the audience enjoyed the work very much.

The recital ended with a encore of Tchaikovsky's deceptively simple Mélodie in E-flat Major Op. 42 No. 3. from Souvenir d'un lieu cher. I don't recall having heard this work in years.  Sometimes you don't need flashy encores to perfectly end an evening of gorgeous violin playing.  Julia Fischer is a violinist to keep your eye on and I would certainly enjoy hearing her in recital again. 

REVIEW:
Harriman-Jewell Series
Julia Fischer in recital
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Harriman-Jewell Series
Folly Theater
www.harriman-jewell.org

By Lee Goodman

Classical Contributor

Lee Goodman took piano lessons for ten years as a youth despite pleas from all listeners for him to cease.  He continued his musical journey through many courses in music appreciation, composition and analysis as an undergraduate.  He was undergraduate program director for classical, Broadway and jazz music at Tulane’s radio station, WTUL, and later did opera programs for KBIA in Columbia, Missouri while a law student.

Once back in Kansas City, he became a member of the Lyric Opera Guild Board of Directors and greatly expanded their trips programs by organizing and leading dozens of trips in the US and Europe.  He has lectured extensively for the Lyric Opera Guild on opera and musical theater topics.  He has also jointly led trips for the Friends of Chamber Music, the Kansas City Symphony, and the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra.  He has also held season tickets to the KC Philharmonic, Lyric Opera, Friends of Chamber Music and William Jewell Fine Arts Series throughout the last 30 years.  He continues to travel to New York several times each year for opera, Broadway and the contemporary art scene.

Lee is also Kansas City’s most popular bridge teacher having brought hundreds of people into the lifelong addiction/frustration that is bridge.

Taking solace in the maxim, “Those that cannot do, critique”, he has inflicted his musical opinions up to now upon anyone within earshot but now looks forward to sharing his opinions to a wider audience