Dazzling Technique Opens Library Series

Sundays at Two, a monthly series featuring young musicians at Beverly Hills Public Library, got a jump on everyone by opening its 1997-98 season Sunday afternoon with a recital by violinist Boris Brovtsyn.

Now in its fourth season, the series, booked by an audition committee, is reportedly a much sought-after opportunity for young performers. If Brovtsyn is any indication, the talent level among the applicants is extremely high.

Dressed entirely in black, the violinist from Russia proved a remarkable technician and intense musician. That his playing as yet shows little variety of expression and nary a lighter side dampened things only a bit.

With pianist Kirill Gliadkovsky in pointed and communicative support, Brovtsyn began with a sleekly phrased and determined account of Franck’s A-major Sonata. A high-octane performance, clean and ringing in execution, of Ravel’s “Tzigane” followed. Throughout both pieces, his tone, even in pressing situations, remained full and true, his intonation pure.

Brovtsyn pulled out all the virtuoso stops for Paganini’s unaccompanied Introduction and Variations on “Nel cor piu non mi sento,” a piece only a violinist could compose or love. A carnival of violinist techniques--often applied simultaneously--it isn’t much to listen to but is dizzyingly difficult to play. Brovtsyn bore down on it with athletic pizazz and emerged without serious injury.

His playing in Tchaikovsky’s Meditation, Opus 42, No. 1 and Valse-Scherzo had the same drive and commitment but left little room for playfulness and elegance. Similarly, his earnest traversal of the Schumann/Kreisler Fantasia, Opus 131, had lots of steam, yet little in the way of intimate detail and poetry. Indications are, however, that it will come through.