In pop music, the "sophomore jinx" is what might take hold during the second time around for an artist who has had a successful first album -- something about the new album is perceived as inferior to the maiden voyage, and as a result the artist goes down in flames. In her sophomore effort,
Solovision, classical violinist
Jennifer Frautschi has taken on the "jinx" full force, squashing it like a bug beneath her high-heeled shoe with a second album that almost makes you forget her thoroughly respectable first effort, a somewhat more conventional program of
Stravinsky and
Ravel. All of the music heard here is 20th century music for solo violin, a rather risky program for a young artist as there is no "net" to fall into as there would be with an accompanist, and some listeners are spooked even by the name "
Bartók."
Frautschi acquits herself on all fronts and provides a fresh perspective on some badly needed repertoire to boot; this would be an excellent disc for student violinists to acquaint themselves with solo violin literature other than that by Johann Sebastian Bach. On
Solovision,
Frautschi delivers appealing and passionate renderings of the well-known
Kreisler, Ysayë, and
Bartók pieces. The Davidovsky Synchronisms No. 9 is truly an astonishing piece of work, as
Frautschi's violin swoons, dives, attacks, and skitters away in seamless harmony with Davidovsky's prerecorded electronic score. John Harbison's Germanic Four Songs of Solitude won't grab listeners as much as the other pieces, but that's no reflection on the interpreter so much as it is the work; even by the time these tracks are heard the listener is already "sold" anyway. One is compelled to make mention of the terrific cover art for this CD, which takes on a polka-dot motif reminiscent of 1960s Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. What's on the outside is as attractive and stylish as what's on the inside, thus presenting an appealing antidote to the usual "blah" classical album front cover. ~ Uncle Dave Lewis