The young Japanese violinist Akiko Suwanai will be in Taipei next month (Sept. 15 at the National Concert Hall, playing, among other things, violin sonatas by Brahms and Ravel). On the evidence of these two discs, her tone is enormously pleasing -- never astringent or scraping, yet never over-sensuous either. It's refined in a way we rightly assume to be in the best cultural Japanese tradition -- an exquisite and discerning sensibility rather than of self-advertisement or romantic excess.
Still in her 20s, Akiko Suwanai is yet another product of New York's Juilliard School of Music where she studied violin under the nowadays legendary Dorothy DeLay.
As is the case with so many leading violinists, the instrument Suwanai plays belongs to a bank. It's a particularly famous Stradivarius, dating from 1714 and once the property of the great violinist Jasha Heifetz. Such things, like famous oil paintings, are particularly good investments for corporate institutions awash with capital -- they can never be replaced, are certain to increase in value as their age increases, and are 100 percent inflation-proof. Few bankers are able to play them, of course, but they gain good publicity by loaning them out to the most celebrated international soloists, a class to which Akiko Suwanai certainly belongs.
MENDELSSOHN: Violin Concerto in E Minor
TCHAIKOVSKY: Violin Concerto in D Major
Akiko Suwanai, violin
Vladimir Ashkenazy and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
(Philips, 468 369-2)
There is enormous competition in the catalogues for these two popular concertos, and even for them coupled together as here. Akiko Suwanai's delicate, unostentatious approach well suits the sunny and melodic Mendelssohn work, and Ashkenazy leads the Czech musicians in a similarly good-natured reading. It is not a version, in other words, that storms any romantic heights, but this will probably be very much to the taste of her fans. Loud and insistent bombast is the last thing the younger generation is interested in, yet many will be immediately attracted to the kind of approach offered here. Lyricism combines with charm, with the soloist's technical virtuosity ever-present, but never indulged in showily for its own sake.
The Tchaikovsky concerto is another matter. He intended it to be full of contrasts, alternately dramatic and introspective. Neither manner represents Akiko Suwanai's natural style. So what she comes up with is a self-effacing and even wistful reading that, as in the Mendelssohn, is supported in like manner by the orchestra. In the last movement, however, everyone agrees to let go, and as a result you have a fine display of virtuosity that makes a very satisfactory ending to the disc.
Here, then, are two performances that are neither self-advertising on the one hand, nor sentimental on the other. They will be very much to the modern taste, as well as a tribute to one of the world's finest living violin virtuosos.
CRYSTAL
Akiko Suwanai
(Philips, 470 017-2)
Given her forthcoming Taipei appearance, it is particularly appropriate that Akiko Suwanai's brand new highlights album, specially produced for the Japanese market and with no announcement of any release in the US or Europe, is also to be available here in Taiwan.
This disc offers 13 tracks, most (as her Taipei concert will be) with just piano accompaniment, others solo or with orchestra. It's an attractive sampler that should prove very popular. It comes with four postcards of the soloist, with her Taipei appearance advertised on the back.
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