When 13-year-old Himari Yoshimura took to the stage with the Berlin Philharmonic in March 2025, she became the youngest Asian soloist to appear with the orchestra in a subscription concert. A subsequent contract with Decca made her the label’s youngest-ever female signing. Her debut album features that Berlin performance of Wieniawski’s Violin Concerto No 1, alongside studio recordings of music by Chopin, Godowsky and Sibelius.
What is immediately apparent is the technical security of her playing, combined with an easy lyricism across the instrument’s full range. The fearsome double stopping in the Wieniawski is impressive, with some supple dynamic phrasing in the upper register. Occasionally a leap to a high note comes up a hair’s breadth short, something absent from the studio recordings, but this is nevertheless a significant performance. She’s not entirely helped by Sebastian Weigle’s smooth but staid accompaniments. It’s not the greatest concerto and needs a lighter touch to give it some lift (compare Michael Rabin and Adrian Boult).
The rest of the programme is safe, old-school even, including Heifetz and Milstein arrangements of Chopin Nocturnes, a suitably toothsome reading of Godowsky’s Alt Wien and a lithe-limbed account of the Mazurka from Sibelius’s Five Pieces for Violin and Piano. The playing exhibits depth and feeling, ably supported by pianist Chelsea Wang. The finale, Wieniawski’s Fantasia on Themes from Gounod’s Faust, reveals a keen instinct for musical storytelling amid the fireworks.
Listen on Apple Music (above) or Spotify
