(London)Times, April 29, 2003

LSO/Mehta
By GEOFF BROWN

Twenty years ago an 11-year-old Juilliard pupil, Japanese and sweet as a cherry, was introduced to US audiences by conductor Zubin Mehta at the New York Philharmonic's New Year's Eve concert. On Sunday night, when Midori and her violin entered, once more with Mehta, no introductions were needed. Surviving the virtuoso-tot phase with sanity intact is good enough reason to celebrate. But to survive with the kind of musicianship that floats on tiptoe and makes stout men go weak at the knees: that deserves extra applause.

She began with Mozart's Violin Concerto No 3. The London Symphony Orchestra was deft and dulcet enough; but Midori's silken threads of sound, generated from her characterful Guarneri del Gesu violin, spun the kind of delicate dream you can only, well, dream about. Just when you thought the adagio's pianissimos could cast no greater spell, her bow produced something even quieter, more magical still. Rhythms were supple. Mehta maintained a flexible hand, too, keeping the finale playful, leading the band all the way to the movement's comically missing final chord