Bachtrack - Dvorak Concerto with the Halle Orchestra - Leeds

"Highlight of the first half of the concert was the performance of Antonín Dvořák’s Violin Concerto in A minor from 1879, rendered by British violinist Jack Liebeck. Right at the outset of the concerto, after a short fanfare-like opening of the orchestra, the violinist gave an expressive solo entry into what was to become an excellent interpretation of Dvořák’s piece. Liebeck, always playing with a hundred per cent of energy and tension, proved to have a deep understanding of this music. With a sound that is considerably versatile and of a beautiful sonority in the lower register, he called forth a rich soundscape which met the challenges of the concerto.

In accord with Steffens, Liebeck finely balanced out all transitions, not least the fluent passage from the first to the second movement which, set in F major, seemed to emanate peacefulness. For the first time that evening, the orchestra raised to its full and wonderfully clear symphonic sound. Liebeck’s musical strength lies in the detail, shaping, if not at times celebrating, the individual characteristics of Dvořák’s music. In the third movement which starts with a gentle and playful furiant – a traditional Bohemian dance with a distinctive change of metre – Liebeck was at his best. He seemed to set exactly the right tone: cheerful and delicate, yet not without undertones of teasing and irony. He maintained his energy from the first to the last note, although occasionally he went over the top and some high-register passages came out a little too tense and forced."

Julia Zupanci

The Age - with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

"Jack Liebeck, soloist for Dvorak's Violin Concerto, invested that work with a soaring vitality, from the hefty proclamations of the opening movement to the infectious, searchingly exposed furiant finale handled with an admirably reliable bowing technique. Here is a talent with an individual voice, confident in articulation, capable of vehemence without stridency and a lilting elegance of phrasing, best heard in the concerto's eloquentadagio: a memorable highpoint in this exemplary concert."

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/music/scheherazade-review-jakub-hrusa-and-mso-deliver-exhilarating-performance-20151002-gjzocx.html#ixzz3nSLWs4zP 
 

The Scotsman

"MAX Bruch was not a one-hit wonder. Nor even a two-hit wonder if you count his Scottish Fantasia alongside the ever-popular Violin Concerto.

BBC SSO

City Halls, Glasgow

****

And the evidence was there in duplicate on Monday night, as British violinist Jack Liebeck joined the BBC SSO in performances of the outwardly virtuosic Second Violin Concerto (there are actually three) and the gorgeous Konzerstück for violin and orchestra.

These were typical Liebeck performances, a robust and solid delivery characterised by nimble technique and purity of tone. The Violin Concerto No 2 is ferociously difficult, a real showpiece for its original performer (Sarasate), where showmanship and musicianship square up on equal footing.

Liebeck took most of it in his stride and played a boisterous game of duck and dive with conductor Martyn Brabbins, whose control of the orchestral artillery – Bruch hits out with some meaty tuttis – was balsy and bright.

The Konzerstück called for a more reflective response, which Liebeck and the SSO gave in abundance, the violinist’s golden tone drawing myriad nuances from Bruch’s exquisite melodies."

Ken Walton

The Scotsman - Edinburgh Youth Orchestra/Walker - Usher Hall, Edinburgh - April 2014

"The EYO have a special rapport with violinist Jack Liebeck, who substituted at the last minute for an indisposed Nicola Benedetti last year, and this was further strengthened in this immaculate performance of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. The soloist/orchestral balance was spot on, allowing plenty of space for Liebeck to breathe; his gorgeous mellow tones beautifully enhanced and supported by the strings, ably led by Katie Foster. There is often a temptation to rush this war-horse, especially the last movement, but Walker wisely resisted, bringing a compelling freshness to this rousing classic."

Susan Nickalls

The Times - RSNO/Mälkki - Prokofiev 1st Concerto - Usher Hall 23/3/14

"In the following work, the violinist Jack Liebeck and the RSNO started out so gently in Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No 1 that the music’s tentative phrasing threatened to lose its thread. But by the fanatical second movement the combination had warmed up to a jagged, tetchy tempo, Liebeck throwing off the fiendish pyrotechnics with obsessive panache. The final slow movement was hypnotic, mesmeric and thoroughly convincing."

reviewed by Sarah Urwin Jones 24/3/14

The Strad - RPO/Brabbins - Sir Peter Maxwell Davies Concerto No. 1 - 12/3/13

"Parallels have been drawn between the Violin Concerto and that of Sibelius as well as with Bartok's Second, but it has an idiom all of its own. Jack Liebeck relished in exploring this world, whether in the eloquent and soaring, though angular lines of the first movement, the touching Highland air of the second or the folk-dance elements of the third. Putting aside the technical challenges, which were brilliantly met, Liebeck established such a ready affinity with the work, and gave such a persuasive reading that he could almost have been playing the Lark Ascending."

reviewed by Edward Bhesania

Liverpool Daily Post - RLPO/Petrenko - Sibelius Concerto - 18/1/13

"Sibelius’s Violin Concerto has a quite unconventional opening – feeling pained, challenged, even. Soloist Jack Liebeck, making a welcome return to Liverpool, was impressive. The opening movement was full of impassioned playing, a sense of longing never far away, and boundless resources of energy always there.

The adagio was no less impassioned with dynamic chromatic rises adding drama with that hint Wagner, especially in the harmonic language. Liebeck produced a fine allegro finale, a moto perpetuo where that energetic drive was always evident.

His encore – the sarabande from Bach’s Second Partita for solo violin in D minor – was a sombre affair, bringing the burst of Finnish energy to a juddering halt, but none the less inviting for that."