Violinist’s Thrills, Substance

At 20, Leila Josefowicz is a virtuoso violinist who almost has it all: an imperturbable and effortless technique that enables her to tackle any masterwork of the repertory with confidence; a native musicality sensitive to many styles; a command of the stage and of her resources that immediately puts an audience at its ease.

What she does not possess, as shown in recital with pianist John Novacek in Schoenberg Hall, UCLA, Thursday night, is strong individuality. Youthful and attractive though she is, she is not yet her own person, or her own musician. She doesn’t always make the music compellingly personal.

Still, with her longtime musical accomplice--their partnership goes back at least eight years--she delivered thrills and substance in abundance at this performance.

Josefowicz/Novacek plumbed both the serious and playful aspects of Bartok’s still-wondrously exotic Second Sonata (1922) as they began the second half, going beyond the difficulties and thorniness and making it irresistible. Colors, moods, whims and nuances informed this definitive, spontaneous sounding performance.

High polish characterized Beethoven’s Sonata No. 6, in A, Opus 30, No. 1, in which the duo shared every stylistic detail and specificity of timing while appearing to be making it up on the spot. And the overworked Franck Sonata, which some listeners have come to dread, exerted most of its emotional charms.

Novacek’s contributions cannot be exaggerated. His partnering is at once brilliant and unobtrusive; without slighting any musical values, he underplays handsomely while accomplishing technical feats many pianists can’t even consider: varieties of touch, a huge dynamic range, nuances of statement and the bold use of all his pianistic resources within the parameters imposed by the genre.

At the end, after Josefowicz’s awesome display of virtuosity in pieces by Kreisler and Sarasate, the two encores represented Kreisler and composer Novacek: “Leibesleid” and “Intoxication.”