Here’s a major virtuoso not yet in her mid-twenties simply letting her hair down – and what lovely hair, as you can see from the six pages of close-ups in the CD booklet. Josefowicz has been acclaimed in the Sibelius and Tchaikovsky concertos (1/96) and she’s played with John Novacek since she was eight. Their rapport is stunning. Josefowicz’s magical technique is based on total control with occasional glissando s and extremely subtle near-blue notes.
Novacek’s own Four Rags, close to the novelty piano idiom, are wonderful vehicles for the duo; Vieuxtemps’ variations on ‘Yankee Doodle’ (Souvenir d’Amerique) are hilarious in a way which Gottschalk pioneered; and in Joplin’s Ragtime Dance the composer’s request for foot-stamping effects (1'58'') is followed, and the parallel thirds (at 2'17'') go wonderfully on the violin in Perlman’s transcription.
Josefowicz’s melodic playing in Ponce’s Estrellita (‘Mexican Serenade’) is irresistibly seductive, but the climax of the CD comes with a free approach to the Heifetz arrangements of six magnificent songs from Porgy and Bess. These two know much more about jazz than Heifetz ever did, and the Josefowicz/Novacek interpretations belong to the tradition of Fitzgerald/Nelson Riddle or Miles Davis/Gil Evans. Every song comes across as an eloquent portrayal of its character’s predicament – baleful bereavement in ‘My man’s gone now’, casual cynicism in ‘It ain’t necessarily so’, and so on.
‘Americana’ is a rapturous delight which Josefowicz fans, Gershwin fans, violin aficionados and many others cannot afford to miss. Fine recording, too. In short a fantastic talent and the most enjoyable anthology I’ve come across in years.'