There seems to be a never-ceasing stream of talented teenager
violinists popping up every so often. The latest is this Korean
girl. “Sixteen-year-old” the booklet commentaries say and if that’s
her age at present or at the time of recording we are not told.
Anyway she is another technically accomplished player with beautiful
tone – she was using a 1683 Stradivarius at the recording – sensitive
phrasing, excellent legato and also a nice feeling for rhythms
in some of the livelier pieces. She is also apt at double-stopping,
not least in the rarely heard but pleasant Preludio 15
by Brazilian Vale, who was himself a skilled violinist.
She delivers a dreamy
Chopin Nocturne, a vital Dance No. 4 by Alexander
Krein, another composer whose works are not every-day fare.
Rimsky-Korsakov’s ubiquitous bumble-bee buzzes energetically
and the skilfully transcribed Prélude à l’après-midi d’un
faun is dreamily relaxed. There is actually a dominance
of slow and soft music in this recital, which sometimes gives
the programme a feeling of longwindedness. The pianist, who
inevitably plays a secondary role in a recital of this kind,
does a good job. There are many old favourites among the eighteen
pieces but also some nice surprises. I have already mentioned
two and Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Tango, spiced with some
daring dissonances, could be added to the same category, just
as Prokofiev’s Masks from Romeo and Juliet is
attractive in its somewhat quirky style.
“Now, don’t beat
around the bush any more. The whole review so far breathes only
half-hearted appreciation! What’s wrong?” Actually very little
is distinctly wrong, the other Prokofiev piece, the well-known
March from The Love for Three Oranges is a bit
heavy-footed but what I miss is temperament. It is all so well-behaved.
Beautiful, yes, but beauty also requires some intensity of phrasing
and Miss Lee seldom lets go. Of course it is bold indeed to
record a collection like this, with many pieces that have been
played and recorded by the great violinists of the last century,
not least by the arranger himself, Jascha Heifetz, who in most
cases is unsurpassed. But we don’t need to go that far and I
intentionally refrained from getting down the master’s own recordings
from the shelves. I couldn’t withstand the temptation to play
two tracks from the young Munich-based Daniel Röhn’s recital,
released on Claves less than a year ago (see review).
Jeanie with the light brown hair and Ponce’s lovely Estrellita
are both included on that disc and there we find a glow, warmth,
intensity, the strings vibrating with passion. Miss Lee more
or less skims the surface, beautifully, cleanly, musically immaculately
but without showing her heart. I know, Daniel Röhn was 23 when
he recorded his disc and was already a mature artist but Su
Yeon Lee has been giving public performances since she was six
… I know, the superb is always the enemy of the good and without
odious comparisons this disc should be a nice, and inexpensive,
addition to anyone’s collection of violin music. Since I can’t
recall a similar all-Heifetz recital it also has library value
and listened to, preferably a few pieces at a time, it will
give a lot of pleasure, since all the attributes I enumerated
in the first paragraph of the review are still valid. Good sound
and an, as usual, informative booklet text by Keith Anderson
are further assets. Who knows, within a few years Su Yeon Lee
may be in the same league as Daniel Röhn. The last piece of
the recital, Gershwin’s A woman is a sometime thing,
which actually starts with two minutes of Summertime, sounds
promising.
Göran Forsling
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Su Yeon Lee (violin),
Michael Chertock (piano)
