Review: Alexi Kenney (violin) Orion Weiss (piano)

The Strad (read the full review)

By Tim Homfray

“After Ives, Kenney gave life to the birds in Stravinsky’s ‘Chants du rossignol et Marche chinoise’. There was felicitous, gently flowing passagework in the first movement of Beethoven’s G major Sonata op.96. The Adagio was contemplative but with considerable drama within its long-sustained lines. The Scherzo bounced happily along, and there was tenderness in the finale.

In the world premiere of Paul Wiancko’s seven-movement X Suite for Solo Violin, which draws on Bach for its structure, Kenney was adept in restless string-crossing, showed vigour in the springing rhythms of the double-stopped Courante, and generally executed with panache. After a plaintive arrangement of Barbara Strozzi’s L’Eraclito amoroso, the two musicians played Enescu’s Third Violin Sonata with subtlety and colour, catching the folk idioms in their melodic nuances and rhythmic flexibility.”