PRESS

"Lippi was introducing rhythmic subtleties into this music of the like that haven't been heard since the heyday of Heifetz. And she was doing it with apparently effortless aplomb. The effect was electrifying - enough so to win her a 45-second standing ovation after the concerto's first movement... In this age of virtuosity, her dazzling technique is not such a big deal. The big deal is the exquisite tastefulness of her musicianship, the extraordinary amount of fresh, unfettered personality she brings to her playing, the depth to which she does understand every particle of what she is doing"
~ St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"She exhibited flawless bow control, dazzling listeners with her technical polish and her clean, articulate playing. Her sound, vibrant and penetrating easily filled the hall, yet she could also produce spellbinding pianissimos. Indeed, the expressive lyricism of her cantabile playing proved captivating"
~ Los Angeles Times

"A standard critical line concerning young virtuosos has to do with the lopsided distribution of technical expertise and ease of expression. Violinist Isabella Lippi suffered no such imbalance in her recital at Pepperdine's Raitt Recital Hall on Sunday afternoon. Yes, Lippi Projects a controlled urgency and an exacting sense of purpose with virtually every phrase she plays, but this comes not at the expense of emotional fluidity."
~ Los Angeles Times

"She exhibited rhythmic verve in the extreme, didn't flinch at the fast spiccato passages, her extreme upper positions were solid as gold, and she polished of the Sarasate with flawless stratospheric glissandi and other pyrotechnic effects as nonchalantly as you or I would adjust our microwave ovens"
~The Buffalo News

"The [Reading Symphony Orchestra] introduced the Reading audience to a new soloist, Isabella Lippi, who gave a highly individual reading, both in sound and style, of he Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, a piece full of hazards as a steeplechase. Lippi's tine ran the gamut from heartbreakingly sweet to biting with occasional graininess and nasality (not unpleasantly so); her style of playing, with its rather wide vibrato in many cases, was both dramatic and intelligent. She took her time in the first movement, not settling for mere virtuosity; her tempo allowed details to be heard which are usually hidden. Not all of her tones were merely pretty; instead they were meaningful and expressive and full of color. Her phrasing throughout was wonderful, but especially in her second movement, where her solos were as natural as humming"
~ Reading Eagle

"Violinist Isabella Lippi is not one of those musicians who reveal their feelings to the audience through their facial expressions of suffering, bliss, resolution, or triumph. Poker-faced while playing, and melting into a shy smile only when taking her bows, she channels her emotions exclusively through her instrument. And what irresistibly passionate emotions they are! Lippi is so sensational that I want to hear her play everything. May the Chamber Music Society bring her back soon, with Vivaldi, Beethoven, Saint-Saens, and anything else she might want to play"
~ San Diego Reader

"Adding an interlude of jaw-dropping wonder, soloist Isabella Lippi performed by the Carmen Fantasy That Isaac Stern played in Humoresque in 1946. A Bizet medley of acrobatic intensity, she all but started a fire with the blur of her bow"
~ The Dallas Morning News

"Lippi proved she was every bit up to the challenges of the work [in the Bruch Violin Concerto] and probably managed to squeeze more sincerity out of the score then is often heard these days. Hers is a masterful technique and a full-bodied yet unforced sound that projects well over an orchestra. On the steps to Parnassus, however, no one is higher then Mozart; for musical value, Lippi's performance of the G Major Concerto was the winner. If angels truly do play music all day, I'm certain they're playing this concerto - especially this second movement. There simply is nothing more heavenly. Lippi's sweet yet playful interpretation was close to ideal."
~ Columbus Dispatch

"Isabella Lippi is yet another in a seemingly inexhaustible supply of violinists who virtualily scorch their instruments with technique, yet emply that gift as a mere building block for more substantial artistry. In Samuel Barber's Violin Concerto, Op. 14, Lippi oozed pages of charismatic lyricism before raising the temperature of the hall several degrees in the perpetual motion finale. What sets her apart though is the tone she coaxes from her instrument, not an overtlys sweet sound, but something almost throaty in distinctly vocal way that eerily suggest a a true human quality. And in an apparent golden age where sheer virtuosity may be taken for granted at this level, her blazing traversal of the finale was punctuated by whoops of astonishment from the qudience. The ensuing standing ovation clearly had far more to do with genuine approbation than any needs or desires to begin the intermission. An encore would have been appropriate and welcome."
~ Santa Barbara News-Press

"Lippi transported the audience with a ravishingly beautiful reading of the Olympian "Violin Concerto in D major" by telling details, glossed over by most violinists, Lippi lingered with an intense emphasis on the lyrical aspect of Beethoven's creation, mesmerizing in a manner bordering on religious ecstasy. Amazingly, the music's pulse never slowed or stopped. The audience's standing ovation afforded Lippi left no doubt that her musical communication was as expert as her technical abilities"
~ Charleston Post & Courier

"In Jean Sibelius' Violin Concerto, Lippi covered herself with glory performing with fiery intensity and supreme virtuosity. Her bright, focused tone and rapid vibrato conveyed the work's aura of edgy tension most beautifully"
~ Charleston Post & Courier

"Lippi caught Lenny's warm, larger-then-life spirit perfectly, She paid him affectionate tribute in glittering virtuosity, shimmering tone and deep feeling in Bernstein's Serenade
~ Charleston Post & Courier

"In the Chausson Poeme, Lippi negotiated the double stops and trills with an intensity searing yet sensitive. Her interpretation of Berlioz' early "Reverie et caprice" for Violin and Orchestra, Opus 8, earned her a real standing ovation, where listeners jump out of their seats in spontaneous combustion."
~ Charleston Post & Courier

 
   
   
 
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