THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR ● INDYSTAR.COM
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
 
 
“Violinist returns with bold recital”
 
“Competition medalist makes her professional concert debut”

 
By Whitney Smith
 
 
“Simone Lamsma, silver medalist of the 2006 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, made a triumphant return to town Tuesday with a bold, expressive recital as her first professional U.S. concert engagement.
   
The 22-year-old Dutch violinist and the Taiwanese-born pianist Chih-Yi Chen served up a program of substantial sonatas. These were not sonatas marked by restraint of the classical era, but mostly late-romantic works from 1875 to 1925 that made no apology for their emotionalism.
   
Technically, the recital offered other works – the opener was an “Adagio” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and the encore, a Polish dance by Henryk Wieniawski – but sonatas were the heart of the concert. Their diversity alone was diversion enough.
   
During the first half of the concert, Chen set the tone for the opening “Allegretto” movement of Maurice Ravel’s G Major Sonata, with her lightly articulated, sustained French Impressionist coloring. She and Lamsma shaped the entire movement as one big arch, building to a big crescendo and tapering off. The second movement was Gershwinesque blues.
   
In Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg’s No. 3 in C minor, Lamsma dug right into the powerful eloquence of the “Allegro molto ed appassionato” opening movement.
   
After intermission, Belgian composer Eugène Ysaÿe’s Sonata No. 4 for solo violin harked back to baroque forms of J.S.Bach. Lamsma took advantage of the Indiana History Center Basile Theatre’s acoustics, allowing the harmonic blend to ring nicely.
   
Lamsma and Chen began Gabriel Fauré’s Sonata No. 1 with a bold melodic sweep. Even the quieter passages had momentum. The “Andante” second movement, which the program notes compared to a Fauré’s art song, was just gorgeous, offering exciting phrasing between the two women.
   
Overall, it was a challenging program with few “down” moments for Lamsma. She carried it all off with a big, confident sound, lovely intonation and stylistic nuance that should have been familiar to Violin Competition listeners who heard her two years ago.