MUSIC AND DANCE REVIEWS : Violinist Lippi Shows Emotion and Skill at Pepperdine

A standard critical line concerning young virtuosos has to do with the lopsided distribution of technical expertise and ease of expression. Violinist Isabella Lippi, a 27-year-old wonder, suffered no such imbalance in her recital at Pepperdine’s Raitt Recital Hall on Sunday afternoon, ably accompanied by pianist John Novacek.

Yes, Lippi projects a controlled urgency and an exacting sense of purpose with virtually every phrase she plays, but this comes not at the expense of emotional fluidity. In fact, at times her unfailing earnestness enabled her to sail over technical rough spots.

On the Bach Chaconne in D Minor, Lippi mediated affectingly between requisite composure and life-or-death intensity of gesture. It didn’t matter that things were not squeakily note-perfect: Somehow, the heat of the moment provided a deeper emotional validity.

With the recital’s other solo showpiece, Eugene Ysaye’s, composure is unnecessary. It’s all fervor and no play, a challenging thicket of double-stops, fingerboard sweeps and furrow-browed, post-Romantic seriousness. Lippi rose to the occasion with nary a flinch.

Generally, Lippi seemed disinclined to lighten up, except for the opening elegance of Mozart’s Sonata No. 15 in B-flat, K. 454, and the closing gusto of Pablo de Sarasate’s “Zigeunerweisen” (Gypsy Airs), on which she delivered hot waves of gypsy-esque passion and dexterity that wouldn’t quit.