Mozart : Sonates pour violon K. 301, K. 378, K. 380 & K. 526 (Ani Kavafian)

Album review

When Ani Kavafian was added as a professor of music at Yale University in 2006, she was still too young to be called "an American institution" and a bit too mature to be regarded as an ingénue. Nearly anyone who has taken in even a little of concert life in America has probably heard her name, but there aren't very many recordings that are devoted specifically to Kavafian as a performer. Kavafian has recorded frequently, and well, on discs devoted to chamber groups and as a soloist in concertos on releases devoted to composers. Therefore, it is a somewhat auspicious occasion that Artek Recordings has made available a fine disc featuring Kavafian as the main event in four Mozart sonatas and accompanied by pianist Jorge Federico Osorio. Although the lion's share of the biographical notes are devoted to Osorio, Kavafian is clearly the star of the show, and she takes full advantage here to shine in these standard rep violin sonatas. Kavafian's approach to Mozart is peppy, optimistic, lucid, and dexterous, never tense or in anticipation of the music. Osorio contributes a warm and responsive accompaniment that interacts hand in glove with Kavafian's violin; in the opening Allegro moderato from the Violin Sonata in B flat, K. 378, the two flow in and out of one another's path like two streams running side by side, combining here and there and separating again -- it is a very satisfying performance. These Mozart violin sonatas have been recorded so frequently that comparison to other recordings is irrelevant; either you like Kavafian in this music or you don't, but this recording should appeal to most listeners whether one is in pursuit of Kavafian or Mozart. Artek's recording, made at the Performing Arts Center of Purchase College, SUNY, is a little on the quiet side, somewhat narrowly focused and weak in low-end response, but is very well balanced between soloist and pianist. Artek's Mozart Sonatas for Piano and Violin is a highly enjoyable disc of well-known literature performed by two well-seasoned artists.
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