Houston Chronicle, November 10, 2006

Violinist Midori seduces and sizzles

By CHARLES WARD

When an audience sighs happily after hearing tough music, an artist has conquered.

Violinist Midori was the victor, as it were ... when she wowed a Society for the Performing Arts audience with J.S. Bach's Sonata in C Major for unaccompanied violin, BWV 1005. ... When a performer is on in this repertoire, as Midori was, listeners are drawn into a glorious ride through intense emotions, dramatic pacing and occasional technical fireworks (the clarity and forcefulness of Midori's account of the piece's fugue were impressive).

[In the magical second slow movement.] Midori spun out deep-felt musings on Bach's music with mesmerizing effect, just as she had in the slow movement of Beethoven's Sonata, Op. 12, No. 3 in E-flat Major.

In each [work: Bach, Beethoven, Debussy, R. Strauss] Midori and McDonald were like the couple - married or friends - that finishes each other's thoughts. They asserted control and then gave it to the other as if they had been doing so all their lives. All the interpretations were carefully thought out and beautifully polished.

Midori ... wielded [the] sound with the mastery of a virtuoso - sharp, well-honed attacks; soaring, sometimes searing melodies; bold assurance in fast and difficult passages.