Tutta bravura: Virtuoso Showpieces for Violin and Piano
This program is an exercise in pure virtuosity, and it is breathtaking. It includes some of the most horrendously difficult showpieces in the repertoire, containing every imaginable--and some unimaginable--violinistic effects, such as simultaneous left-hand plucking and bowing, harmonics and double harmonics, double and triple stops, to say nothing of runs across the whole fingerboard at top speed. The violin seems to be called upon to do everything but turn somersaults. Especially stunning are two unaccompanied pieces: a set of variations by Paganini and Ernst's paraphrase of Schubert's song "Der Erlkönig," which Repin himself calls the technically most demanding violin piece ever written, as well as Paganini'sMosesFantasy, played entirely on the G string, tuned two notes up for greater brilliance. Repin performs all these acrobatics with an effortless ease that must be heard to be believed, playing with flair, perfect timing, and incomparable charm. Most amazing, he actually makes them sound like music and seems to be having fun besides. His tone is pure, beautiful, expressively inflected, and--though many of the pieces are of questionable musical value--his elegance keeps them from sounding cheap or corny.--Edith Eisler