July 15, 2019
Pavel Sporcl takes London by storm in his Cadogan Hall debut

"The soloist in Mendelssohn’s (second) Violin Concerto, the young Pavel Šporcl, with his fifteen-year-old blue violin, is relatively unknown to British audiences, but on this showing he more than deserves to become a household name. In terms of lyricism and brilliance, musicality and unpretentiousness, his fine technique and profound musical artistry – his virtually impeccable intonation and deep grasp of the work’s original structure being exceptional – this was an account of memorable quality, Woods and the ESO fully partnering their exceptional soloist. This performance, one of the finest I have heard, demanded, and received, an encore – Paganini’s Caprice No.5 – dazzlingly played."

Robert Matthew-Walker, Classical Source

 

"Pavel Šporcl is a Czech violinist of prodigious technical ability and extraordinary musicality and both attributes were put into play in what may just be the finest live account of Mendelssohn’s E minor Concerto I have heard. If his intonation was a touch edgy in the early stages, he adapted very quickly and produced a very fluent account of the opening movement, taken quite quickly, as was the central span. The speeds, however, seemed perfectly right, with Šporcl in complete command of the work as a whole, the accompaniment throughout beautifully shaped by Woods. There were some lovely instrumental solos from the band, too, particularly from the horns. The finale fair danced along—and at quite a lick, too—in an immaculate performance that was deservedly rewarded by sustained applause. Šporcl rewarded the audience with a brief encore of Paganini’s 5th Caprice."

Guy Rickards, Musical Opinion, July 2019

 

"The rest of this concert consisted of standard repertoire, but there was nothing routine about the performances. Pavel Šporcl (above) was soloist in Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, notable for the trenchancy and forward impetus of its opening movement – not least the structurally crucial cadenza placed between development and reprise, then the alternately easeful and searching Andante. The finale had no lack of wit or insouciance – Šporcl duly returning for a dynamic account of the Fifth Caprice by Paganini, its coruscating passagework delivered with aplomb."

Richard Whitehouse, arcana.fm

 

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