Concert review: Alexi Kenney (violin) Janice Carissa (piano)

Violinist Alexi Kenney presented a well-curated programme with pianist Janice Carissa at New York’s 92Y, showcasing his virtuosity and commitment to new music and unfamiliar repertoire. He opened with inti figgis-vizueta’s captivating earthmaker which led straight into Piazzolla’s Le Grand Tango very effectively. Sibelius’s little-known Five Pieces op.81 followed and sounded more like Kreisler salon pieces than Sibelius – filled with character and virtuosic elements. Closing the first half was the world premiere of Michi Wiancko’s The Wild Yes (co-commissioned by 92Y), a piece with as much variety as life itself – one moment traversing the entire violin with spirited semiquavers and the next with a simple three-note motif. Both piece and performance were deeply impressive.

The second half of the concert featured Schnittke’s First Violin Sonata followed by Britten’s early op.6 Suite. The technical difficulty of the Schnittke never got in the way of character, and the work was bursting with playfulness and power in the faster movements, while the Largo was unbearably human in the hands of Kenney and Carissa. Throughout the evening, the violin seemed like an extension of Kenney’s physical being; the notes he played an extension of his voice – with even the loudest and most boisterous passages in the Schnittke and Piazzolla never becoming overbearing, while the most intimate moments in the Sibelius and figgis-vizueta had a wonderful fragility to them.

LEAH HOLLINGSWORTH