Violinist Julia Fischer

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It’ll be even more interesting to hear what Fischer does with Prokofiev and Martinů. The Soviet composer’s F minor Sonata is hard-core modernism at its most violently aggressive, and though Fischer has shown she’s got the virtuoso technique to meet its demands, who knows how she’ll pitch her lyrical style to its heroic interpretive requirements?

That goes double for Martinů’s Sonata. A large-scale four-movement work from the Czech composer’s wartime American exile, the sonata is as passionate as Prokofiev’s, but with less aggression and more lyricism. It’s easy to imagine the light and lively Fischer warming to Martinů’s singing lines—but less easy to guess how she’ll respond to his driving rhythms and soaring climaxes.

But it sure will be interesting to find out.   

[Originally published in April, 2009.]