Subject headers I considered for this included "Sensational Violin
Playing," "I Never Heard It Like That Before," and "Violinists With
Guts..." My not using the last probably represents a failure of nerve,
something these soloists would not exhibit.  At any rate, I have been
hearing some uncommonly expressive violin playing lately and, since I
am not ready to write full fledged reviews of any of these performances,
I want to share some recent enthusiasms.

1.  NIKOLAJ ZNAIDER played the Nielsen Violin Concerto with the
Milwaukee Symphony this past weekend.  This is a work I have known
only through a recording by Cho-Liang Lin and Esa-Pekka Salonen with
the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra (a good performance, I would say.)
My reaction to Znaider's performance was that I would not like to have
died without hearing this.  Znaider's playing has tremendous expressive
and dynamic range.  He is not afraid to expose himself by playing gently,
quietly and slowly, or to attack the strings a bit when called for.  His
candenza--and I have to say I have never even liked cadenzas--was perhaps
the most musical I have ever heard in any concerto and evoked a quiet
"wow" from me at its end.  In the lobby afterwards I picked up an
overpriced copy of Znaider's recording of the Glazunov Concerto with
the Prokofiev 2nd Concerto and Tchaikovsky Meditation (music originally
intended for his violin concerto).  I am not going to comment on it after
just one hearing of that, except that it did not disappoint me.

Znaider is Danish (of Polish-Israeli parents).  He won first prize in a
Brussels competition in 1997 at age 22 and was called successor to Ysaye
by Yehudi Menuhin.  He has played with a lot of major orchestras, but I
am sorry to say even his name is new to me, perhaps because I have always
been more interested in finding music new to me than performers new to
me.

2.  RACHEL PODGER.  Vivaldi, La Stravaganza (12 violin concertos, Op.
4), Arte de Suonatori Baroque Orchestra.  This recording is a must for
anyone who likes Vivaldi and, I would say, also for those who DON'T.  I
have been hearing Vivaldi for very many years, because my father loved
his music and began collecting it a half a century ago.  However, I have
never heard Vivaldi played like this.  What I found myself saying this
time was "Can she play!!" So can her group, which is Polish.  Very, very
musical performance.  I don't even care what early music specialists
might think of it, though it is worth mentioning that Stanley Sadie
(editor of the New Grove) reviewed it very favorably in Gramophone (which
is why I got it, after hearing a bit of it on Wisconsin public Radio.)

3.  MAXIM VENGEROV.  Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Schedrin Concerto
Cantabile and Tchaikovsky Serenade Melancolique/ Rostropovich cond.
London Symphony.  (Also the Britten Violin Concerto--the interpretation
of which Steve Schwartz did not altogether approve of, though he said
the playing was good--and Walton's Viola Concerto with Rostropovich and
the LSO again.  Just won a Grammy, for whatever that is worth.)

It is the Stravinsky that most grabs me.  (I like the Schedrin but
do not know this composer well.) This is a work I have gotten to know
increasingly, lately, and I reviewed Hilary Hahn's recording favorably
last year, in close comparison with the Stern/Stravinsky recording.  I
am not ready to make another one-on-one (or more) comparison right now,
but Vengerov's performance is very satisfying musically and has more
plain oomph than any performance I have ever heard.  For many years I
felt that Stravinsky's own performances were canonical (and they tended
to exemplify his stated belief that music could not be expressive) but
lately I have tended to regard them as more rigid than they need to be.
Actually, Stravinsky himself expressed approval of Ansermet's performances
of his work, and Ansermet (in the Symphony in C, Symphony in Three
Movements and Petrouchka--the performances I know) is very satisfyingly
expressive.  (Technically, I suppose Ansermet uses rubato effectively
in contrast to Stravinsky's angular rigidity.) Anyway, Vengerov/Rostropovich
perform the concerto the way Ansermet might have, only more so.  Expressive
without being wrongheaded, let's say.  Perhaps some might not agree.  I
recall the jeers from some quarters that greeted the Rostropovich/Bernstein
recording of the Schumann Cello Concerto.  At any rate, if you like
Rostropovich's kind of rhythmic freedom you may like this.  Just one
specific note about this recording: Vengerov and Rostropovich play the
first movement with by far the longest duration of any of the several
recordings I have, but it certainly does not drag.

Jim Tobin