“I can see the cover of the album now: Yoo Plays Yiu. Well, perhaps not. But there’s a strong likelihood that the American violinist Esther Yoo’s premiere performance of Raymond Yiu’s new Violin Concerto — a casual creation that took a mere six years to write and lasts 37 minutes — will one day be given a commercial release. It certainly deserves one, for those 37 minutes endowed this BBC Symphony Orchestra concert with an unusually high quotient of musical substance for ears, heart and mind. ”

“The main event of the evening was the world premiere of the Violin Concerto by Hong Kong born, British based composer Raymond Yiu. Written for Esther Yoo, it is a substantial work spread over four movements. Its musical language is fundamentally tonal with a rich mix of chromaticism and intricate counterpoint. At various points in the score, Yiu alludes to the music and life of Chinese violinist Ma Sicong, who suffered persecution in his homeland after the Cultural Revolution. The opening was magical, with the soloist trilling and the orchestra gradually weaving a texture around it. From the start, Esther Yoo was able to present both delicacy of tone and a cutting edge. As the music develops into the Scherzo, there are references to Chinese- style 1930s jazz that Ma Sicong would have played. The tricky offbeat rhythms were met head on by the BBCSO, with Schuldt keeping close control of proceedings. The moving third movement for the soloist alone saw Yoo producing a splendid variety of colours and mood. The long finale was the hardest to grasp in terms of its extended form, but it built steadily to an animated climax that dissolved into a return to the opening trills. An impressive first outing for a work of some beauty and stature.”

“Seven years in the making, Raymond Yiu’s Violin Concerto is a big piece in every sense. Themes of exile, loss and nostalgia place it in a lineage stretching back to Korngold and Bartók. For Yiu, born in Hong Kong, long resident in London, those themes take on new life and relevance through the turmoil of 20th-century Chinese history, and the life of the Chinese violinist Ma Sicong … Like the marital proverb, there is something old, something new, something borrowed and indeed something blue about the concerto’s gradual awakening, giving Yoo plenty to dig her bow into, though the funky orchestration of the following scherzo periodically drowned her with its echoes of Cantonese pop. Where she came into her own was the solo third movement, a decorated transcription of an anonymous solo for erhu which draws deep on violinistic reserves of romantic expression, presenting an alluring showcase for any top-class violinist. Where Yiu decisively breaks from tradition is the finale’s journey – almost a concerto in itself – from Sibelian questing to a state of dissolved transcendence, via a fluid, often conflicting dialogue between both violin and orchestra and across European and Asian harmony.”

“A work of blinding brilliance, the concerto carries its multiple influences explicitly: Chinese opera, Chinese folk tunes, jazz and Latin. It’s inspired by the great Chinese violinist Ma Sicong (1912–1987), in whom Yiu explores the sorrows of exile. Composed especially for Esther Yoo, she needs no introduction: Yoo is one of the greatest soloists in the world today, and handles Yiu’s virtuosic (and often schizophrenic) score like it’s her own thoughts. A complete oneness of performer and material, which is very special to see. ”