A Mixed Bag of Precocious Fiddlers

The sheer quantity of super-accomplished, audience-attracting young violinists from which an impresario can choose today defies the wildest imaginings of anyone in a similar position a quarter-century ago. Or is it that we weren’t on the lookout for them then, dominated as that distant age was by pianists?

Among recent recorded releases by these young whizzes, none of whom has as yet reached age 30 (will you still need me? will you still feed me?) consider the following . . .

Is it surprising that everyone, particularly the youngsters, is discovering the 1940 (revised 1948) Violin Concerto of Samuel Barber, the most lusciously overripe creation with which a Romantically inclined virtuoso was ever blessed? And since it was written in what is loosely regarded as “our own time,” claims to doing one’s duty by modern repertory can be made by all concerned without subjecting an audience to any alienating modernism in the music itself.

But we are hardly here to bury Barber, rather to praise and admire him for having possessed the lyric gift that either eluded or was disdained by his contemporaries, and to admire 23-year-old Gil Shaham for his natural, engaging way with the piece and the eloquent partnering of conductor Andre Previn here and in its present companion piece, the 1945 Concerto of Erich Wolfgang Korngold, the constitution of which is stickily, rather than endearingly, sweet (Deutsche Grammophon 439 886).

In the Barber Concerto Previn wraps his orchestra, the London Symphony, around the solo with optimum sensitivity--of the sort that a particularly sensitive Mozartean might accord his soloist in one of that composer’s piano concertos, with chamber-music clarity of texture and the most refined ear for solo-woodwind balance.

Anne Akiko Meyers, a year older than Shaham, makes a relatively faint impression with her latest offering (RCA Victor 61700), at the heart of which, so to speak, is another desperately needed Mendelssohn E-minor Concerto, which she plays in workmanlike fashion within the context of Andrew Litton’s phlegmatic conducting of the Philharmonia Orchestra. The fire that marked her recording, as a 16-year-old, of the Barber Concerto (RPO Records 5002) is hardly evidenced here.

Nor is there much beyond the dutiful in the deliberately un-showy remainder of the present program: Vaughan Williams’ “The Lark Ascending,” Dvorak’s “Romance” and a particularly bland (where some schmaltz was really in order) Meditation from Massenet’s “Thais.”

C hristian Tetzlaff, at 27 the senior member of this quintet and the only one not affiliated with the Dorothy DeLay finishing school for violinists at Juilliard, tackles the Dvorak Violin Concerto, a succession of glorious melodic inspirations that nevertheless pits solo against a rather thick orchestra rather than allowing them to work companionably.

But there’s no sense of strain on this occasion. Tetzlaff delivers the goods with bracing rhythmic energy and a neat, 1990s take on Romantic style, i.e. with varied rather than uniformly throbbing vibrato and gentle applications of expressive portamento--in all of which he is immaculately seconded by conductor Libor Pesek and the Czech Philharmonic (Virgin 45022).

Tetzlaff makes a strong case as well for the coupling, Lalo’s salon-folksy “Symphonie Espagnole,” by taking it just seriously enough to project its formal elegance.

The latest recording by Midori, a veteran at 24, would be a triumph for an artist twice her age: a thrilling display of musicianship combined with transcendent technical mastery in the service of the Sibelius Violin Concerto (Sony 58967).

From the outset, Midori creates marvels of dramatic tension by the most subtle variations of bow-pressure and vibrato. Overall, hers is a view of the concerto that ideally blends sentiment and dramatic punch.

Zubin Mehta, always a strong, positive presence when partnering Midori, draws playing of considerably greater polish from the Israel Philharmonic than is its wont, and the level of expertise and involvement from all concerned is equally high in that most gracious of virtuoso vehicles, Bruch’s “Scottish” Fantasy.

What does one say about Sarah Chang, 13-years-old and one of the most sought-after artists on the planet? One thing we out here can state with reasonable certainty is that she hardly needs Paganini’s D-major Concerto (EMI 55026), which recording companies continue to promote as a rite of passage for every successive infant phenomenon. Wee Sarah is already too sophisticated a musician to have it serve any meaningful purpose for her.

And since it holds no terrors for her, it’s no fun for us. In rounding out her wafer-thin program, Chang augments digital skill with a little display of sensitivity in sustaining the lyric lines of Saint-Saens’ moonglow twins, the “Havanaise” and Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso. A cheesily obvious program.

In such repertory one notices the accompaniments only when they are particularly good or particularly bad. Those provided by conductor Wolfgang Sawallisch and the Philadelphia Orchestra are neither.*