By Geoffrey Maingart

Los Angeles, CA(Hollywood Today)2/17/12/—For those who have never had the wonderful experience of enjoying a recital by the delightful Itzhak Perlman, it is an event sadly missed.  Itzhak was joined by the wonderful pianist Rohan De Silva in a sold out recital at UCLA’s Royce Hall.  The program was one of his best beginning with a poetic performance of the rondo Brilliant by Schubert.

Itzhak scooted back and forth on and off stage on an electric scooter, Stradivari in hand and could have been the winner of an obstacle course.  Always smiling and totally enjoying the music, he carried the audience away with him on this musical tour de force.

The Schubert was followed by an intimate reading of the 2^nd Sonata by Brahms.  The performance was truly poetic.  This sonata is often played in a virtuoso manner by so many violinists.  Perlman and De Silva did a very romantic and vocal interpretation of the work that was refreshing and soulful.  This was followed by three Hungarian Dances also by Brahms and probably arranged by the great friend of Brahms, Joseph Joachim.  Beautifully played in true gypsy style, it seemed that Itzhak enjoyed playing them as much as the audience enjoyed listening.

The second half of any Perlman recital is worth the price of admission.  He began with a wonderful reading of the sonata in D by Prokofiev.  This is one of the great modern sonatas for the instruments and is composed more as a tone poem than any classical sonata.  Prokofiev is always looking to create colors on the instrument that are unique and completely Russian.  Every movement evokes another painting with the last being more marshal and march like, similar to Peter and the Wolf.  One can see the hunters entering the scene.  The performance was magnificent.

Then, as usual, comes the best part of any Perlman recital.  He enters the stage followed by piles of music of the greatest vignettes for violin and piano and a story for each.  This becomes a comedy performance with Itzhak relating hilarious stories about each composer leaving the entire audience laughing until the first note of each piece.  He is still at the top of his form and the instrument is just a toy in his hands.  The list included, the Melody by Gluck (described by Perlman as a local barber to the laughter of all), Spanish Dance from La Vida Breve by de Falla, Caprice by Weinwiaski from the duo caprices arranged for violin and piano also with a very funny introduction describing how he had to play the difficult part.  Also, a Kreisler piece attributed to Pugnani but actually by Kreisler himself.  All were played sentimentally with the warm heart of Itzhak Perlman and Rohan de Silva.

I have known Itzhak since we were both in our early twenties and although he is usually joking and laughing, he remains to this day one of the great gifts to music.  I even turned pages for him and his pianist at the time, Sam Sanders, at the White House state dinner for President Nixon in 1974.  The sheer joy of playing is still in his soul and I can only recommend that if you have the opportunity to hear and see him live while he is still willing to endure the grind of concert touring, don’t miss it.