“Playing from memory, Kavakos cleared one hazard after another in Shostakovich’s stupendously original score. He didn’t just spin legato lines in the searching, conversational Nocturne; he expounded entire legato paragraphs in an eloquent, unbroken stream of consciousness. Shredding his way through the Scherzo, his tone was poised, even lavish. Where some violinists convey a sense of anguish in demanding passages — playing two melodies in duet or an endless seesaw of double stops — he sounded effortless. Even his harmonics had a juicy ping.”

“Kavakos ranks among the greatest ­instrumentalists of our time.”

“With a big, rich, gleaming tone, Kavakos had all the ardor and virtuosity one could wish…”

“Kavakos’ violin playing has always been astoundingly ­virtuosic and blazingly ­insightful… I’m happy to admit Kavakos to the pantheon of musician-philosophers.”

“The highlight of the afternoon was Bartók’s ­Second ­Violin Concerto, which got a ­masterful ­performance from the Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos. His ­technique is immaculate: he ­navigated all of the concerto’s virtuoso hurdles without too much apparent effort. Even more impressive were the lucid, singing tone of his playing and his elegant phrasing.”

“In a striking and original interpretation of the ­Sibelius Violin Concerto with the San Francisco ­Symphony, ­Kavakos stripped this extravagant work of all ­indulgences to deliver a lean, ­purposeful, and deeply ­absorbing ­performance.  The sense that something ­different was about to happen was apparent right away.  From a ­quietly insistent opening phrase to an early ­cadenza, Kavakos staked out his territory with a woody, fibrous tone – reminiscent of a fine baritone’s probing, amber-toned voice – that seemed to stride into the score instead of sailing across its swooping surfaces.”

“…time and time again, he juiced out rivulets of sound from just a couple inches of bow. Like any Brahms interpretation worth its salt, his performance leaned into the work’s inherent narrativity. In the first movement, he wound out of the finger-tying cadenza with genial windedness, as though acknowledging the hugeness of the disclosure just before.”