"All About Jazz Top Ten Releases of 2009 "

All About Jazz, January 6, 2010

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"Much of the set was silly stuff, in a good way, and a reminder that musical comedy works best when the musicianship is first-rate. "

New York Times, September 16, 2009

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In a similar vein comes Polkastra with their cleverly put together and musically superb Apolkalypse Now.

All About Jazz, August 2009

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There's everything but the kitchen sink in this album: quotes from Beethoven and Paganini, Gypsy licks, impressive contrabassoon solos, and laughter. It's a lot of fun.

Violinist.com Interview, August 2009

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The playing is virtuosic and energetic, but not too disciplined that it falls into the “stuffy” category and not too ragged that we feel the musicians are creating a phony atmosphere. After all, a few beers relax but a keg quickly dissipates into chaos!

Audiophile Audition, August 2009

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The Grammys may have cancelled its category -- but Lara St. John's polka record is still the dance album of the year.

The London Free Press, August 2009

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The group attacks the genre with genuine gusto, evoking the dizzy, sweaty revelry of a Bohemian beer hall...After all, the world is a happier place when songs end with a hearty 'Hey!'.

The Economist, July 2009

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lusty and hilariously diverse.

The Buffalo News, July 2009

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Simply Dazzling

Music and Vision, January, 2010

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Marturet, who also led the Bolivar Orchestra of his native Venezuela on a sizzling recording released in April of the Vivaldi and Piazzolla Four Seasons with star Canadian fiddler Lara St. John

Miami Herald, December, 2009

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I can imagine no suaver, more atmospheric performance. A sultry atmosphere pervades this reading that feels just right.

American record Guide, July/August, 2009

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Very few recordings contain that convincing nuevo tango fusion of deep passion and raw emotional power that Piazzolla himself on bandoneón with his preferred quintet were able to convey.

MusicWeb International, June, 2009

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All this would be off-putting if she were just a beauty with adequate technique. But the thing is, Lara St. John really is a virtuoso.

Head Butler, May, 2009

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Canada Watch Exclusive Arts and Culture Spotlight Interview with Lara

Canada Watch, April 13, 2009

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The Piazzolla is certainly one of the best things Lara St. John has ever recorded; she plays with unbridled passion and a kind of sexy ferociousness, and dips into interpretive effects more common to long ago violinists...swooping portamento, a beautifully weighty projection of the melodic line and a very high level of expressiveness, edge and passion maintained throughout the performance.

All Music.com, April 13, 2009

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Lara St. John is as captivating in the seductive scenes of the Piazzolla as she is crisp, caressing and colorful in Vivaldi's atmospheric paeans to nature

Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 29, 2009

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Do we need another Four Seasons? With playing and sound like this, yes we do!

Audiophile Audition, March 2009

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Gratefully, St. John continues to eschew the "standard" repertoire for her more creative whims, this brilliant Four Seasons pairing being a fine example.

All About Jazz, March 2009

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Rosebrook Classical Blog, October 2009

"What Makes A Great Album?"

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American Record Guide, July 2009

"St. John plays with her usual intensity, the Royal Philharmonic is a very polished ensemble, and Sarah Ioannides provides precise leadership."

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Fanfare, April 2009

""In either case, these three compositions with strong extra-musical associations - Hindson's hauntingly evocative tryptych, Corigliano's equally atmospheric movie score in miniature, and Listz's theatrical horror show should appeal broadly to general listeners...Strongly recommended.""

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Strad Magazine, November 2008

"..she is an extremely fine player who mixes quicksilver technique with gripping spontaneity to captivating effect."

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Gramophone, October 2008

"All Praise to this Excellent Violinist for Championing Such a Vivid New Concerto"

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Classical CD Review.com

"But this is intriguing to the ear, and the solo violin, especially when played as brilliantly as it is here, does have a rather macabre sound in this music."

Originally published in http://www.classicalcdreview.com/MC245.html June 2008

London Free Press, originally published in The London Free Press, May 28, 2008

"As you may detect, I am probably a little overawed by St. John's brilliant fire -- and am overwhelmed every time I play this recording."

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All About Jazz, originally published in All About Jazz, May 23, 2008

"St. John demonstrates the pioneer spirit in an art often thought of as dusty and drab. Her effect on the music is one of warm humidity, a frankly sensual vision seen through the lenses of certain youth, wonder, and determination."

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Palm Beach Post, originally published in The Palm Beach Post, May 4, 2008

"Hindson’s music is monumentally eclectic...Lara St. John shows an admirable spirit of risk-taking with this disc... it’s an exciting recording that tells us a lot about the ambition and independent-mindedness of this excellent violinist."

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Audiophile Audition, Originally published in Audiole Audphiition, April 18, 2008

"Lara St. John plays as she usually does, no one finer in my experience, and has done a great service in bringing the Hindson concerto to light. Highest recommendation."

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Montreal Gazette, Originally published in The Montreal Gazette, April 10, 2008

".In all the works the excitement of St. John’s style and the colour of the Royal Philharmonic under Sarah Ioannides are nicely captured by Martha de Francisco"

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"St. John’s Bach: The Six Sonatas & Partitas for Violin Solo is quintessential Bach for the 21st Century on a number of levels."

100 Degrees At Midnight, August 7, 2010

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"St John is particularly adept at balancing the interplay of internal parts and preserving continuity of line and rhythmic flow...she conveys the gravitas of Bach’s language with mature assurance...These attributes, combined with her clean, accurate left-hand technique, her keen ear for tonal colouring and the highly individual, largely unforced sound that she produces from her 1779 ‘Salabue’ Guadagnini violin, result in a thought-provoking achievement from a rapidly maturing artist, beautifully recorded in a unique three-dimensional manner."

Originally published in The Strad, April, 2008

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"I simply don't know where else you can go to hear Bach played at this level of artistry. Once again she eclipses her competition"

American Record Guide, January and February, 2008

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"Lara St. John stands fully clothed by the beach on the cover of her new Ancalagon CD, but the Canadian violinist has become an even more impressively untamed Bach player than when her publicity photos were more provocative. Her account, in excellent SACD sound, of Bach's Sonatas and Partitas is wild, idiosyncratic and gripping."

Los Angeles Times, December 9, 2007

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"...a stunning acheivement. The Canadian violinist takes the music at its written word, while imbuing each piece with personal touches that cast new light on familiar ground."

Blogcritics Magazine, October 23, 2007

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"...easily the best in the past 20 years. She has lost none of her youthful and daring enthusiasm for the time-worn pieces while gaining a certain gravity that allows her to reveal additional treasures contained in the Master’s scores. St. John’s intonation and approach are flawless."

The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, October 21, 2007

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"St John owns this work and I have rarely been so convinced of the rightness of an interpretation...Her passionate, complex readings catapult to the top of my list, and I am still discovering things with score in hand after hearing the set four times so far."

Audiophile Audition, October 4, 2007

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"And it would probably be good if you knew that you will like this music even if you've never listened to anything so-called 'classical'."

With that, the most recent (and extremely bloggy) Shallot Q&A with Lara St. John.

An Interview with Lara by Adam Baer on the Glass Shallot, September 26, 2007

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"...awe-inducing solo playing. There isn't a note or nuance that isn't accounted for."

Toronto Star, Sept 25, 2007

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"St. John's Bach has strong personal flair and a sense of dramatic sweep, as though she were an actress playing a role rather than a musician with an instrument; it is variable in tone, broadly expansive rhythmically and dazzling technically. St. John's Bach is also, in a word or two, breathtakingly beautiful."

allmusic.com, Sept 24, 2007

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"St. John sounds terrific on these pieces, playing with big colors, intense interpretations, and in several cases, dazzling speed. Her tempos throughout are on the fast side, which I like, and she does memorable things with her performance like opening the D major of the big Chaconne from the Second Partita with a hushed, amost defeated sound, before building up again to the end."

Palm Beach Post, Sept 16, 2007

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"Her new recording (Bach: The Six Sonatas and Partitas for Violin Solo) is nothing if not intense. And like St. John's choices about marketing and packaging, it's also fresh and new. There's a brilliance and sparkle to her playing, an energy and momentum."

PJStar.com, Sept 9, 2007

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"The Montreal High Lights Festival inaugurated its classical programming Thursday with Lara St. John, a violinist once known for her eye-popping cover art and aggressive style. That was the 1990s. The blonde playing Bach in the Bonsecours Chapel was a serious musician, and of the highest order.
A close-to-symphonic tone, a personal way with a phrase: Such artistry defeats all questions of historical correctness. If an interpretation that plumbs the depths and scales the heights of the famous Chaconne is not authentic, what is?

It was interesting to hear St. John project sustained notes without vibrato, not to attenuate the sound but to expand it. The fugue of the Sonata No. 3 was masterful both intellectually and technically. The double of the Courante from the Partita No. 1 was astonishing. What velocity and bravura!

St. John dedicated the Sonata to a friend whose death she learned of only that afternoon. Is this why the recital was so powerfully conceived and expressed? Only about 70 people were present, but they will not soon forget the experience."

(Lara playing J.S. Bach Partita No. 2 in d and Sonata No. 3 in Montreal)

Article by Arthur Kaptainis, Montreal Gazette, Feb. 24th, 2007

At long last, Lara St. John has returned to the recording studio after establishing her own record label and has given us more music by her favorite composer. We have here the canonical solo concertos in A minor and E and the Double Concerto in D minor. The performances are delightful, individual, even exciting, unlike any other recording of these works that I know. This should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with St. John's playing. Before I heard this recording, I never realized that this music had so much drama, specially in the slow movements. As with any really great performance, I felt as though I were hearing the music for the very first time. The New York Bach Ensemble is a superb group that brings out the contrapuntal interplay between orchestra and soloists like no other group I've heard. Best of all, they match the soloist's enthusiasm. One thing I especially like is that the keyboard part is sometimes assigned to a chamber organ rather than the usual harpsichord.

St. John is joined by her brother Scott, professor of violin at the University of Toronto, in the Double Concerto, and their stylistic unity is a real plus. St. John plays the Sonata with the same high-octane style she has in the concertos. The fugue is especially exciting; and, while many don't know what to do with the opening Adagio, she understands its mercurial, improvisational character very well. She finds a trembling delicacy in the Siciliana that has eluded others.

This recording of the concertos is in a class by itself. I can't even think of a recording that I would name as second best to this one. Those who have not yet acquainted themselves with St. John's exceptional artistry would do well to hear this. Excellent sound.

American Record Guide, May 2002

Lately, folks are starting to take Lara St. John—the Canadian-born violinist that Fashion Toronto once called a "six-foot amazon with the waist-length, honey-blonde tresses"—much more seriously. Of course, St. John, a shrewd marketer as well as a gifted performer, has caused a storm of controversy, posing nude on the cover of her debut CD (her breasts were obscured by the violin) and often making suggestive comments in the press.

A recent review of this CD prompted Gramophone to scoff that St. John (who appears vamping in heavy makeup and see-through dress in a booklet fold-out on a poster-size pin up) "has no need to engage in such ignoble marketing ploys" while praising her "silvery" tone, "fleet tempos," and remarkable technique. St. John’s approach to these demanding works is a combination of supple grace and power. There is so much joy in St. John’s performance (she plays exquisitely on the 1779 "Salabue" Guadagnini known as The Resurrection) that it would be a shame to dismiss her for being crass or just too darn cute.

Strings Magazine, May 2002

Lara St John does not play a Baroque violin but is clearly aware of current trends in period instrument performance practice. She has a sleek and silvery one, favours fleet tempos, and applies vibrato judiciously. The effect in these Bach concertos is reminiscent of Kennedy’s recording with the Berlin Philharmonic yet considerably more stylish and satisfying. Even if the New York Bach Ensemble cannot match Berlin’s plush string sound, the New Yorkers evoke the unique character of each work, making a clear distinction, for example, between the thick textures of the A minor Concerto and the airier quality of its E major counterpart.

As for St John, she makes the most ordinary passages come to life. Listen to the brief, ascending sequence beginning at 2’ 27” in the first movement of the A minor Concerto, which she grips so tightly, the pressure can be felt in one’s chest. She can be charming as well as intense. Her playing of the E major Concerto’s finale, for example, is joyous and balletic - a far cry from Kennedy’s jagged account. Ballet also comes to mind in the opening movement of the Double Concerto, as St John and her brother Scott bound through the intricately entwined solo parts like dancers leaping in and out of each other’s arms. The sublime Largo is transformed into a lilting Siciliano - open-hearted and ecstatic rather than hushed and reverential.

Filling out the disc, St John gives a provocative performance of the G minor solo Sonata. Some listeners may be taken aback by the expressive edginess she brings to the opening Adagio, or by by the slashing chords in the fugue, but it is difficult to argue with such a technically dazzling and unfailingly musical interpretation.

Strongly recommended, then, despite the album’s distasteful artwork. Although St John does not pose nude here - as she did for for a previous album, with only a violin for cover - her posture is suggestive. And the booklet folds out into a poster-size pinup in which she appears wearing heavy lipstick and exhaling a lazy curl of cigarette smoke. Given her exceptional talent, St John has no need to engage in such ignoble marketing ploys, Her playing speaks for itself.

Gramophone February 2002

The selections on this CD are, for the most part, familiar classical compositions. On "Carmen" Fantasie (Franz Waxman), and Variations on Dark Eyes (Ilan Rechtman), tracks one and two respectively, Ms. St. John's violin sings and cries with so much feeling that I sat fixated, listening to each note as it gently lingered in the air of the recording venue long past the moment at which it was played. Track seven, Ravel's Tzigane, is as exquisitely performed as track nine, Czardas Caprice (Ilan Rechtman). Both of these pieces are full of the gypsy spirit. Throughout this recording pianist/composer Ilan Rechtmen accompanies Ms. St. John with a beautiful, sensitive and complimentary piano.

SoundStage! - February, 1998

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St. John saves her best playing for the Sonata No. 3, particularly in the Adagio/Fuga sections where her double stops are heart-rending, full-bodied and passionate. The Fuga is the pinnacle of refinement. St. John’s single note articulation is rarified. Bach: Works for Solo Violin, Partita No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004, Sonata No. 3. in C Major, BWV 1005 is a great Bach violin sampler that should make the listener look forward to St. John’s recording for the complete Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin (BWV 1001–1006).

BlogCritics Magazine - October 18, 2007

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