Solo violinist Scott Yoo, with flagellating horse hair disengaged by his ferocious bowing, provided an exciting and extremely entertaining performance in Spaulding Auditorium last night.
A physics major at Harvard, Yoo won the Young Concert Artists International competition at 17 and has appeared as a soloist with orchestras including Boston Symphony, Modesto and Pasadena Symphonies in California, the Reno Chamber Orchestra and the Virginia Symphony.
Yoo has soloed abroad with the Korean Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra in Seoul, the Maracaibo Orchestra and the Orquesta Sinfonica in Venezuela as well as in the Dominican Republic.
Yoo, accompanied by Max Levinson on piano, began the program with classic repertoire of Bach and Beethoven Sonati, continued with Saint-Saens and Bazzini in the second half and topped off the performance with an encore transcription of Scott Joplin.
Levinson, a junior at Harvard and himself an accomplished solo pianist, performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the age of thirteen and has since performed as soloist, recitalist and chamber musician in New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Houston.
Yoo and Levinson worked very well together, combining the attributes of the piano and violin in an interplay of melody and harmony, which produced an impressive and appealing musical presentation.
Yoo and Levinson rendered a very sensitive performance of the Beethoven Sonata No. 8 in G Major, though at times Yoo was slightly overpowered by Levinson's strong playing.
Yoo played Bach's unaccompanied Sonata in G-minor furiously and tenderly while working through the disparate movements of an obviously very demanding piece.
Saint-Saens' first Sonata in D-minor, a gorgeous multi-layered piece representing a diverse range of voicing and coloration, was played both movingly and passionately, though Yoo lacked the richness of tone and feeling that such a romantic genre required.
Finally the Bazzini and Joplin, though comparatively less substantive compositions, were both energetic and entertaining. The performance provoked a standing ovation from several members of the audience.
Despite an overconfident stage manner, Yoo evoked a playful interaction with the audience by describing the Bazzini piece as "having no musical value" and nonchalantly referring to the four movements of the Bach Sonata as "slow, fast, slow, fast."
Yoo and Levinson were obviously a well-polished pair of musicians who provided a very impressive and enjoyable performance and displayed potential to go far with their musical careers.
