Your reaction to this programme will depend very much on what you expect from it. If you're primarily in search of tuneful music, smoothly played and well recorded, then you are unlikely to be disappointed: the repertory itself is attractive and its manner of presentation, warmly palatable. If, however, subtlety, individuality, distinctive tonal shading and expressive intensity number among your priorities, then you would be well advised to sample before purchasing.
Anne Akiko Meyers is a confident player who employs a rich, ingratiating tone, lashings of vibrato and a veritable catalogue of reptilian slides—none of which does much to intensify her somewhat bland interpretative personality. The opening Salut d'amour sports crooning portamentos that, rather than warm the musical line or facilitate songful phrasing, merely sound affected. A similar tendency patronizes Debussy's La fille aux cheveux de lin and La plus que lente, although Kreisler's unaccompanied Recitative and scherzo-caprice is very nicely played, as indeed is Aka-Tonbo by Yamada Kosaku (1886–1965). Upbeat pieces such as Gershwin's ''It ain't necessarily so'' and Valle's Ao pe da fogueria (both of which were Heifetz specialities) are spirited but oddly formal while the Falla Suite populaire espagnole lacks any sense of local colour.
All this probably sounds unnecessarily harsh, especially as Meyers is young, talented and much to be applauded for presenting such a musically varied, enjoyable and indeed unfashionable programme. However, if lighter fare such as this is to bear the scrutiny of repeated listening, then it demands meticulously calculated preparation—whether in terms of tone, rubato, vibrato or timing. Anything less, and we're left merely with ear-tickling elevator music; pleasant enough, to be sure, but ultimately ephemeral.
It strikes me that Anne Akiko Meyers could usefully learn from various of her feted predecessors (Kreisler, Heifetz, Elman et al.), whose success in this genre was due largely to one very important attribute: sincerity. Too many of the present performances sound like imperfectly observed imitations, or snap-shots stained to look old.'