Customer Reviews

Leila Josefowicz Plays Beethoven, Ravel, Salonen, Grey, Messiaen

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Leila Josefowicz is an artist of great physical and musical beauty and one with keen intelligence and respect for the entire spectrum of music written for the violin. No ordinary recital, this, but instead this is a sampler of many periods and styles of music conceived programmatically and played in a manner that makes each individual work glow.

The opening brief Theme: modere variations by Messiaen sets the tone for what is to follow. The work is transparent and filigreed with lovely lines and is an apropos prelude to the Ravel work that follows. Josefowicz thoroughly inhabits the French sound (as does her fine piano collaborator John Novacek) and the works feels simple in their hands. This is followed by some contemporary work by Mark Grey ("San Andreas Suite") that is challenging to the performer but immensely accessible to the listener.

That Josefowicz should include a work by Esa-Pekka Salonen is natural in that they have performed together frequently (their performance of John Adams' Violin Concerto in this year's LA Philharmonic repertoire was a tremendous success!). The piece is for unaccompanied violin and as with Salonen's other compositions, this work finds planes of color and expression unheralded by other composers. It is a bit of perfection.

To satisfy listeners unfamiliar with new music Josefowicz wisely includes Beethoven and Brahms and reminds us how well she plays the old masters as well as the new ones. The balance between piano and violin is excellent and the recorded sound is realistic and flawless. This is a challenging, educational and richly rewarding recital by a very gifted musician. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, June 05

This is one the best recital CDs I have seen in long time, especially in terms of the choice of pieces performed. Ms Josefowicz's playing is solid and technically impeccable as usual, but this time she champions pieces that others seldomly dare to play. And how right she is! The Messiaen passes by fast, but then the Ravel is a first highlight, both in phrasing, rhythm and expression. The `San Andreas Suite' by Mark Grey convinces from a technical, virtuosic artistry perspective, but the true highlight to me is the Salonen. In my opinion, `Lachen Verlernt' is clearly the best piece Salonen has ever written. There is tension, there is lyricism, there is a story told (from Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire). In other words, this piece has the full spectrum that a solo violin can have: Memorable melodies, intelligence, and a emotional, haunting beauty as well as clever, well timed tone changes, but most of all: time. In other of his works, Salonen sometimes tends to rush us, tends to sound hectic; here there is nothing but an almost `Mahlerian' "do not rush"-approach. `Lachen Verlernt' is a drama and major masterpiece of our time, it will be remembered in generations from now, maybe accompanied only by John Adam's `Dharma at Big Sur' (for electric violin)... I think Esa-Pekka Salonen is the Jean Sibelius of our time, he just doesn't know it yet...
The Beethoven and Brahms are good, solid additions to this repertoire, but donot reach the novelty level of the Grey and Salonen.

The "Romantic Playing Tradition" is DEAD! Embalmed, like Lenin in his glass coffin, in the clear plastic cases of thousands of 'historical' recordings! Mummified in the waxy ears of stubborn musical conservatives, but stone dead in the hearts and minds of younger musicians. Nothing could be more solid forensic evidence of Romanticism's demise than this 2-CD performance by violinist Leila Josefowicz with pianist John Novacek of Beethoven's "Violin Sonata #10 in G major" and Brahms's "Scherzo in C minor". If you are a conservative curmudgeon, I can guarantee you'll hate both interpretations; all the phrasings you assume to be proper will be absent, and all the timbres you regard as 'rich' will sound devoid of passion. You'll be right, on your terms, but your terms are out of fashion. This is Beethoven trimmed of all Schmaltz (literal meaning in German: chicken fat), as abstract as any twelve-tone composer could wish. Ditto the Brahms. Maurice Ravel was never a Romantic; he was the Pirandello of music, an anti-Romantic with a fine sense of humor. Thus the Ravel "Sonata in G major" bears more resemblance to typical older interpretations in its classicizing outer movements. Be prepared for satirical hi-jinks in the middle movement -- "Blues, moderato" -- from the Joplinesque piano and the Billie Holiday violin.

Leila Josefowicz has enjoyed a close musical relationship with conductor/composer Esa-Pekka Salonen who dedicated his "Violin Concerto" to her. She in turn has performed that difficult concerto to great acclaim in Europe and America. Want to hear relentless post-Romanticism in a concert hall? Watch for Salonen to conduct the orchestral reduction of Wagner's "Rheingold" or "Götterdammerung" in an auditorium near you! Salonen composed "Lachen verlernt for solo violin" specifically for Josefowicz; this recording is its world premiere. Mark Grey's "San Andreas Suite for solo violin" is also a world premiere on this CD.

Other reviewers have described this recording as a program that combines old and new. That's true only in the most superficial sense. Obviously Beethoven died in 1827, while Olivier Messaien wasn't born until 1908, and Mark Grey until 1967. If music can make any claim to be timeless, however, this performance asserts the contemporaneity of all six compositions ...

... and that puts yours truly in a bind! Tossed on the horns of a dilemma! Hoist on mine own petard! I'm the guy who insists that Bach and other Baroque composers can only be played satisfactorily on original instruments, using "historically informed performance practices." If I declare that I "like" what Josefowicz and Novacek do with Beethoven and Brahms, I open myself to vociferous charges of inconsistency. Oh well, guilty as charged.

This is the first time I've run across Leila Josefowicz, but I hope it's not the last. She and her accompanist John Novacek have chosen a widely varied selection that still holds together beautifully. Many listeners may choose this CD purely for the Beethoven and Brahms. They will not be disappointed. Josefowicz gives an almost Mozartean reading to the Beethoven. Many players may push toward a more dramatic and romantic performance, but she applies a lighter touch which brings out a quieter lyricism. In places, Novacek's playing sounds as if he has a fortepiano under his fingers. The Brahms brings out a more dynamic performer, with tone beautifully under control.

There are two solo pieces. The Salonen shows a balance and restraint that's not always present in his conducting, while still demanding much of the performer. Grey is a composer I haven't encountered before. This piece here is in many ways the most conservative piece on the album. Nice enough, but my least favorite.

There are two outstanding performances in the Messiaen and Ravel. Messiaen is often played with a sort of static reverence that brings out the spooky oddness of it. Josefowicz plays it as more of a barnburner. It's dramatic and contrasty--still Messiaen to be sure, but more anchored in the tradition that precedes it. This demonstrates how truly good music can be played in different ways. The Ravel is probably my favorite performance on the CD. Perhaps more than any other composer, Ravel knew how to integrate jazz and the classical tradition. Nothing feels out of place and nothing feels forced. Josefowicz really sinks her teeth into this morsel. The middle blues movement is absolutely raunchy! The finale shares considerable feel (and material) with the under-rated Concerto for Piano in G. It's zippy and alive, a truly nimble performance.

Josefowicz and Novacek have given us quite a recital. I hope there are more.