Toronto Star, July 15, 2003

Virtuoso St. John struts memorably

GEOFF CHAPMAN
MUSIC CRITIC

HAMILTON—Passion, poise and panache. Canadian violinist Lara St. John offered those and other considerable virtues at her Brott Festival concert and it was more than enough to send home a full house at the Du Maurier Theatre in a state of bliss.

Her playing of concertos by Bach and Prokofiev, at concert number five in the summer-long festival series at venues mostly in the Hamilton area, was exceptional, and in the case of Prokofiev's second concerto, electrifying.

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Mercifully, all was transformed for the main event with St. John, much celebrated for her live shows and recorded output as well as the source of much controversy after the cover photograph of her debut CD in 1996 (Bach Works For Violin Solo) showed her topless save for a strategically placed violin.

The tall, striking blonde needed no such marketing smarts to please Saturday's audience. To the dramatic ideas and motifs ripe for ornamentation in his A Minor violin concerto by Bach, the object of much of her attention lately (her inaugural album on the Sony Classical label was released last month), she brought scintillating technique and a fierce exuberance.

This work is familiar but tougher than it seems to perform well. St. John's enviable control suggests an almost casual approach, but such was her precision and bite that any thought that all this carefree dealing with its fundamentals was superficial was instantly banished. Her well-contrasted development of the melodic content also had the effect of fully engaging her orchestral colleagues. It was in the Prokofiev, however, that the artist really strutted her stuff, underlining the singing qualities of her 1779 "Salabue" Guadagnini instrument and attacking the work's lyrical lines, marvellous melodies and dizzying difficulties in a performance of stunning accomplishment.

Fully engaged with the concerto's emotions and whirling through the razzle-dazzle final movement with the power of a Force 9 gale, St. John showed off blistering virtuosity that contrasted well with the sensuous impact of the infrequent quiet passages. She was quite at home with the bracing tartness of Prokofiev's musical language and textures, a model of brash intensity and focussed illumination — her concert may well be remembered for years to come.