Midori Plays to Mediocrity

I have the somewhat dubious distinction of owning the entire discography of Midori on compact disc, from Bartok to her two recital collections. Naturally, for completion's sake, I picked up her latest offering on Sony Classical--a coupling of the Sibelius violin concerto and Max Bruch's Scottish Fantasy, Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra providing the accompaniment.

However, as with many of her recordings, I cannot give this one a whole-hearted recommendation. Midori stands now at a crucial cross-roads betwixt being a child prodigy and a mature musician. Yehudi Menuhin and Ruggiero Ricci are two who never crossed this chasm successfully, and only time will tell with the upcoming generation. Joshua Bell and Julian Rachlin struggle to get recognition, Sarah Chang remains largely untested outside of choreographable showpiece repertoire, and how much longer Helene Grimaud and Evgeny Kissin shall wax incandescent remains to be seen. I will be the first to laud Midori for her accomplishments in the virtuoso repertoire, especially with Paganini, but I find the mystical element "X" which differentiates between proficiency and artistry missing in just about everything else she has put on disc.

There is never any question about her technical facility in either the Sibelius or the Bruch, for she is arguably the finest technician of her generation, but she remains inexplicably aloof from both of them. The Sibelius is a tepid performance at best-tempi cluster around a comfortable median, and the soul is left wanting, in spite of flawless execution. There is absolutely no magic from her first entrance in the Sibelius, and her tone simpers more than it captivates. During the most dramatic moments of the piece, one wonders whether she is capable of producing anything outside of the dynamic rangepiano to mezzo-forte-I often heard her bow biting into the string, but her tone gets lost somewhere between the f-holes and the microphone.

The second movement of the Sibelius reveals the worst flaws in the less-than-optimal engineering by Sony, which seemingly has Midori buried in the middle of the wood-winds. Without fail, Mehta produces the polished yet superficial orchestral veneer that one has come to expect from him, not helping matters at all. I suspect that Midori is attempting a subtler rendition of this concerto than normally heard, but if so, her efforts are not obvious enough for my taste. I do not encounter the "Nordic winter landscape" that Sibelius was said to strive for, so much as a vast sonic wash of gray.

The last movement of the Sibelius has been described as a "Polonaise for polar bears," but those seeking robust playing should look elsewhere. Rather than the incessant, almost primitive drive of Heifetz or even Oistrakh, one finds a laid-back and almost casual interpretation here, with Midori deferring almost immediately. Is she willing to take on the orchestra in a head-to-head battle? Has she forgotten that the term concerto translates more or less as "a contest"?

The Bruch is also unexceptional, besides Midori's unassailable technique. One cannot help but wonder whether her obsession with note-perfection might be getting in the way of musical success. To reiterate yet again, I am reliably impressed with her facility, but I have never been convinced by her recordings.

For those of you who still need convincing, there is a site on the much-vaunted Information Super-highway which will allow one to preview this album (and others by Sony) at a modestly-equipped computer terminal. For those armed with a World-Wide Web browser (you know who you are), set the path to read http://www.music sony.com/Music/ArtistInfo/Midori.html. There, not only can one find a short biography of Midori, her Sony/CBS discography, and excerpts from critical reviews of this recording, but one can actually retrieve sound clips from this album in either 8-or 16-bit mono.

Finally, I'd like to make a plug for a rather unusual recording of the Sibelius concerto on the Swedish label Bis by Leonidas Kavakos, Osmo Vinski, and the Lahti Symphony Orchestra. This recording includes both the early 1903-04 version of the work, retracted by the composer, as well as the familiar 1905 revision heard in concert halls today. I can't blame you for being a bit skeptical, but drop by the Loeb Music library and give the attending librarian the accession number CD 7227 and see if you don't like it.

Please send comments to bkoh@Ofes.harvard.edu.