Product Review

Acclaimed Japanese-American violinist Midori makes her debut on Onyx with this disc featuring three 20th-century violin sonatas. Ernest Bloch's seldom heard Violin Sonata No.2 (subtitled Poeme mystique) is paired with Janacek's Violin Sonata of 1914-21 and Shostakovich's late G major sonata of 1968, a stark masterpiece composed for David Oistrakh and Sviatoslav Richter. After exploding on the scene as a child-prodigy, today, Midori is recognized as an extraordinary performer, a devoted and gifted educator and an innovative community engagement activist, who was named a UN Messenger of Peace in 2007. Writing about these works Midori says, ''These are three works that interweave the anxieties of the modern world condition with much hope for the future. In the end, the music fills us with a great feeling of warmth and compassion while not shying away from what must be confronted.''