Don Satz thought that Lydia Mordkovitch:

>...seems to get uniformly bad reviews in U.S.  magazines.

Indeed she does.  I was reading one only last night in the Nov-Dec Fanfare
(yes, it is the latest one I have but I do live in Australia) of the Bruch
2nd concerto in which Robert Maxham refers to her "consistently heavy tonal
weight and overwrought sense of urgency." This is much the sort of thing I
think Don had in mind.

Opinions of individual performers are even more subjective than
those of composers, IMHO, he adds hastily.  The other day I listened to
Mordkovitch's version of the Khachaturian concerto and the qualities Maxham
finds in her playing are probably assets in this work.  OTOH, in, say, the
Dyson Violin Concerto, a far more introspective work, I find that she plays
with the restraint the piece requires.  As Chandos's house violinist - or
so it seems - she probably has a place in a number of listers' collections,
especially as she's done a number of first recordings, and deserves
gratitude for that.  Any other opinions?

Richard Pennycuick
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