Live Music Review: Izabela Jaworower @ Appassionato Resort

Second Life Music Review
Written by Enniv Zarf (RL: Paul Kwo)
Classical Music in Second Life
Izabela Jaworower
Appassioinato Resort

I heard Young Zeid a few weeks ago and heard Izabela at a duo concert with Young last week. But I wanted to do a review on just Izabela and so I just sat and enjoyed the last concert and didn't review that. For your information their duo concerts are not double stacked streams, they are actually in the same location performing.

She started off the concert with an "encore" piece, Schumann’s "Tramerei" which wasn't on the program. She forgot to put that back in and even forgot to announce it before she played. But it was definitely a delightful treat to hear such a beautiful piece played with such sensitivity.

Izabela's playing has a wonderful sensitivity to her that is both elegant but with vigor when necessary. Her techniques were near flawless and her tone has a wonderful singing quality. It's brilliant to hear her take the stage on her own from top to finish.

This was the second time...

...I heard her play Vivaldi's "Winter" from "The Four Season". She played it last week at the duo concert and she must have worked on it over the weekend cause it's even better then the last time I heard it. Her tone's even more solid throughout the work and there were even less flaws throughout the piece. Don't get me wrong, she was pretty darn good to begin with. But this performance was definitely on a different league then the last one. It's absolutely fantastic. She had such a wonderful feel for the entire piece today and just sounded like she was totally immersed in the sonic world of Vivaldi. She was able to create both the delicate moments with beautiful singing tones, and flew away with full on vigor virtuosity when appropriate.

She then performed Bach's famous "Air on G String" with just deep passion in a very soulful manner. I almost wouldn't mind if she totally played it without the backing tracks for these pieces. She has such a rich tone in her lower register that I can listen to and enjoy all on its own. I have a special affinity for the G-string on the violin. It really is my favorite string on the instrument and Izabela does not disappoint.

The Szymanowski is a haunting piece and Izabela delivers a chilling performance that is appropriate for the program for this winter season. My one problem is the balance between the piano and the violin. The piano sounds very distant while the violin sounds very close. I would prefer the piano to be more present. It's just a tad bit too far off in comparison that I lose some of the watery effects that it's trying to carry. I much prefer the balance on her performance on Franck then I did on this. But Izabela speaks just so well with her instrument on this piece where her understanding of the message is absolute. This is the kind of music we need to hear more of.

Izabela just speaks so well with her instrument no matter what she plays. Her sounds carry with it tremendous weight and power. And she does them with such passion that even when she's by herself with no accompaniment we wouldn’t have missed them. She moves from era to era, style to style with ease and grace. She delivers a fantastic performance of both classics and lesser-known works. She offers a wonderful contrast from Young's playing that is definitely worth listening to.

By the way, here's her entire program.

"Tramerei" from "Kinderscenen"........R. Schumann
"Winter" from "The Four Seasons"....................... Antonioa Vivaldi
"Air on G String".......J.S. Bach
"Arethusa Spring" for violin & piano.............. Karol Szymanowski
"Polish Capriccio" for solo violin,
"Oberek"................................................................ Grazyna Bacewicz
"Polonaise Brillante" in A Major ......................Henryk Wieniawski
"Sonata" for violin and piano .....................................Cesar Franck

0 comments: