Maxim Vengerov, Itamar Golan - classical review - Reviews - Comedy - The Independent The virtuosity of the first movement was refined, and its impassioned lyricism restrained, while its tentative and labyrinthine Romance had a lovely suggestiveness. Following this work with Prokofiev's Violin Sonata in F minor, written for David Oistrakh, Vengerov proved himself a worthy successor to that great artist, delivering its rapid pianissimo scales with relaxed ease, and in the Andante letting the most beguiling of melodies unfurl over the piano's rippling figurations. Then it was time to have fun. A Brahms Scherzo, all fire and fury, was followed by the swoops and slides of a Hungarian Dance, then Vengerov treated us to a dazzling medley of encores and party-pieces, playing unashamedly to the gallery but with his old phenomenal beauty of tone entirely intact. After the years of misery and burn-out, it's good to be able to report that, among fiddlers, Maxim Vengerov once again reigns supreme.