Violinist shows mastery in varied program

TIMOTHY FAIN, HEATHER CONNER, violin and piano, Libby Gardner Concert Hall, Thursday

As one of the many young violinists coming up through the ranks today, Timothy Fain has certainly been making a name for himself and leaving his mark in concert and recital halls across the country. And there is good reason for that. Fain has distinguished himself for his artistry, virtuosity and musicality. He is without question a young artist to look out for.

Over the past few years, Fain has been to Utah several times playing at the Moab Music Festival. And he finally made his Salt Lake City debut Thursday in a recital in Libby Gardner Concert Hall playing a wonderfully varied program of pieces not often heard in recitals today.

Fain was partnered with University of Utah faculty pianist Heather Conner, who was his perfect collaborator. It was as if they were musically cut from the same cloth. The two have known each other since their student days at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, and there was a definite musical connection between the two.

The evening began with Edvard Grieg's Violin Sonata No. 3 in C minor, op. 45. Known mainly as a composer of symphonic works, Grieg nevertheless wrote a fair amount of chamber music, and the C minor Sonata is perhaps his best-known work.

Grieg had a gift for melody, and this sonata is a gorgeously mellifluous work. Fain deftly captured the intense romanticism of the piece with his bold playing and large gestures. Yet his reading was also infused with subtly inflected lyricism that gave the performance definition and scope.

Fain paired the Grieg with Ernest Chausson's lush "Poeme." He brought out the large sweeping lines of the piece, but his account occasionally felt undefined. Everything seemed to crash together in a whirlwind of unbridled passion. The music is already extremely forceful in its expressions — a little constraint would have gone a long way here.

The second half opened with Kevin Puts' "Arches," for solo violin. Written in 2000, the piece is a mix of various styles, from baroque figurations to American fiddling. Fain gave a dynamic reading that was well defined and well articulated.

Antonin Dvorak's lovely Romance in F minor, op. 11, which Fain and Conner played with captivating expressiveness, came next, followed by what in many ways was the highlight of the evening, Maurice Ravel's "Tzigane."

Ravel doesn't miss a violinistic trick in this piece. It's a veritable catalogue of string techniques and effects and is quite a showpiece for the violinist, who opens it with a lengthy solo. Fain showed his true mastery of his instrument here, giving a dazzling performance that was mesmerizing in its impact. And not to be outdone, Conner's playing was absolutely radiant. Together, they conjured up a frenzy of passion and dramatic outpourings that brought the audience to its feet at the work's conclusion.

There were two short encores, including Jascha Heifetz's arrangement of George Gershwin's "It Ain't Necessarily So" from "Porgy and Bess."

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