Akiko Suwanai joins Sapporo SO's earthquake benefit concert in London

Tadaaki Otaka's superb Sapporo Symphony Orchestra turned a date on their 50th anniversary tour into a benefit concert in support of aid charities working in the hardest hit areas of Japan.  It was a great concert, though violinist Akiko Suwanai's exhaustingly forceful performance of the Bruch 1st concerto was perhaps not the high point.  Here's a quote from my review:

"Suwanai now performs with the Dolphin Stradivari of 1714, once owned and played by Heifetz.  By all accounts, Heifetz’s tone was comparatively small; Suwanai’s was at the other end of the spectrum, seeming to dwarf the collective contribution of the orchestra.  She was hugely secure throughout, but her aggressively clipped articulation proved wearing and even in the ‘Adagio’ she never relaxed."

Read my full review at Classicalsource.