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.
AIRS FRANCAIS
Ben Heppner
Myung-When Chung and the London Symphony Orchestra
(Deutsche Grammophon, 289 471 372-2)
The Canadian tenor Ben Heppner has in recent years become a major personality on the international opera scene. He was brought up in the wilds of British Columbia, 1,287km northeast of Vancouver, and when he first saw opera (on TV) couldn't understand why the singers were making such a commotion about feelings that were supposed to be private. He soon changed his mind, however, and today commands large fees for making a similar commotion himself, much to the delight of his many fans.
Here he offers a selection of scenes from 19th century French opera, a genre more known now from just such extracts rather than from complete performances. Berlioz predictably makes the strongest impression, not least in the arrangement he made of La Marseillaise which constitutes the final track.
SCHUMANN: Davidsbundlertanze; Concert sans orchestre
Maurizio Pollini, piano
(Deutsche Grammophon, 471 369-2)
Grunts and little moans by the solo pianists appear to be de rigeur these days. There are plenty from Jeno Jando on his otherwise excellent complete Mozart piano concertos on the bargain Naxos label, for example. Presumably the sound engineers allow them to stay either because it's impossible to edit them out, or because someone has decided that they add authenticity to the performance, in the same way that a painter scribbles his signature in the corner of a canvas. Maurizio Pollini contributes a couple to this disc, a strong account that is every bit the equal to Sviatoslav Richter's famous renderings of this composer.
The pieces are essentially collectors' items -- two early Schumann works, each in its original version rather than the later, revised ones that replaced them. The performances are, needless to say, first rate, though the items themselves are unlikely to appeal to many other than enthusiasts, for the composer or for the celebrated performer.
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