If I had to pick my top 10 favorite violin concertos, Dvořák’s Violin Concerto would certainly be up there alongside Sibelius, Bruch, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich… It’s not everyone’s first choice but, for me, it’s a zesty piece that contains many exciting, profound, and beautiful moments, and who better to play a piece like that than Japanese-born American violinist and utterly captivating performer, Midori! In June this year, Midori performed the Dvořák Violin Concerto with Marie Jacquot and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin in an evocative program also featuring Amy Beach’s “Gaelic” Symphony No. 1 and Vivian Fung’s contemporary work, Earworms. I was glued to my screen not only for the concerto but for the whole program, so I wanted to share some of my favorite moments of the concert with you…
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Midori showcases her beautiful, assured, and sensitive playing (First Movement)
Dvořák’s Violin Concerto
Although I have watched this concert a few times already now, I am still gobsmacked by the absolute accuracy with which Midori plays, and the full, round timbre she achieves, even in higher and faster passages. She seems to waste no energy; every movement of her left-hand fingers and her bow are exacting, yet her playing is far from dull or textbook: it is imbued with so much feeling and what seems like profound emotion. She seems to immerse herself and the audience, simultaneously, in the intense world Dvořák creates with this concerto.
Double-stopping to die for! (Third Movement)
A simply incredible, dazzling flurry of violin mastery (Third Movement)
Preludio from his Partita No. 3 in E Major BWV 1006
It is hard to do justice to a musical moment like this with words — for me, it is just pure perfection. I wouldn’t say I am a Bach fanatic but, as a string player, I do enjoy listening to and playing Bach’s violin pieces and listening, of course, to his Cello Suites and other undeniably masterful works. Bach fan or not, it is hard not to marvel at Midori’s performance of the Preludio from his Partita No. 3 in E Major BWV 1006. It is absolutely stunning. She displays, once again, unwavering accuracy combined with acute attention to dynamics and to the ebb and flow of rubato in a Bach solo string piece. It is a captivating few minutes that seems to enchant the whole concert hall (Midori appears to entrance the violist behind her into a happy bliss, her eyes closed and a smile on her face for the duration of the performance!).
For her encore, Midori performs the Preludio from Bach’s Partita No. 3 in E Major BWV 1006
This concert not only features a second-to-none rendition of a beloved violin concerto by a world-renowned soloist, but it also celebrates women in classical music, from Midori and Marie Jacquot on the stage to Amy Beach and Vivian Fung in the composer’s chair. For whatever reason you watch, you’re sure to enjoy a program of beautiful, breathtaking music…
