The News Tribune, Tacoma, March 24, 2003

Violinist St. John glows in celebration of J.S. Bach

JEN GRAVES; The News Tribune

In a day-late 318th birthday party for J.S. Bach Saturday, superb soloist Lara St. John celebrated the elder composer, while the Northwest Sinfonietta lit bright honorary candles for two of his sons.

The Canadian violinist St. John is a bombshell whose marketing strategy is her sex appeal. But her wet red lips and shiny blood-red dress paled compared with the sound of her richly resonant 1779 Guadagnini.

In his Violin Concerto in A minor, Bach demonstrates his intention to marry the soloist and orchestra, going against the established concerto style. St. John followed, understanding where her line rested in the bedrock of sound, blending so that some of her entrances seemed to spring from the orchestra itself.

She made the central slow movements of Bach's A minor and E major concertos gleam. Her tone had heft and lyricism, with dashes of animating moxie.

In the oversized E major first movement and the A minor's third movement, St. John bowed ferociously, emphasizing the bookends of rapid phrases and shading the interior notes. Yet only once did her playing feel muddled. These were powerful, distinctive readings, full of life, that one longed to hear again. The nearly full house at the Rialto Theater stood, hoping for an encore that didn't come.