Jennifer Koh

The New York Times
By Joshua Barone
June 29, 2018
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Simon Rattle’s Goodbye to Berlin: The Week in Classical Music

If you need something to binge watch this weekend, try the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s YouTube channel. That ambitious ensemble has put videos of all its world premieres from the past season online. One in particular that I keep coming back to: Christopher Cerrone’s violin concerto, written for Jennifer Koh. (I’m always eager to hear what this adventurous violinist is up to, and was able to observe some of her insightful rehearsals with composers earlier this year.)

Mr. Cerrone’s concerto, “Breaks and Breaks,” is full of pain, but also beautiful lyricism. Keep an ear out for the final movement, which has the feel of looping. Ms. Koh plays pizzicato or glides her bow across a string with a pure, ornament-free sound. Each pitch is sustained in the orchestra, creating a swirl of sound typically reserved for electronics and improvisation. For all this sonic density, the movement gracefully arrives at a serene chord that brings this all-to-brief concerto to its end.

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