Violinist Sparkles as Symphony Opens Season (From Reviews | Pip Clarke -Musical World) 

-- "Artwork and artistry were much in evidence Saturday night as the Mobile Symphony Orchestra welcomed the return of violinist Pip Clarke, who last performed here in November 2003.

The next half-hour belonged to the British-born Clarke, who performed what has become her signature piece, the Violin Concerto of onetime movie composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Clarke will perform the work again in October when she makes her debut at Carnegie Hall.

Ten years ago, the writer Steve Schwartz said he once asked a violinist friend of his to describe the violin concerto, and he replied: "Pure corn and pure gold." After hearing it, one understands, and Clarke played the difficult piece with a passion that spotlighted each showcase moment. Her playing elicited spine-tingling moments, from the soaring solo that opens the concerto to the closing Allegro assai vivace with thematic elements from the film "Anthony Adverse."

Clarke was superb and in control through the electrifying climax. The audience showed its approval with cheers and applause that drew the violinist back to the stage for a poignant interpretation of Fritz Kreisler's arrangement of the Clarence Cameron White spiritual "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen."

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-- "Soloist Clarke, a young British artist who is a Korngold devotee, played with technical polish, big vibrato and lots of verve, obviously secure in the concerto's sometimes stratospheric tessitura."

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-- 'SUPERWOMEN OF STRINGS' FASTER THAN A SPEEDING BULLET
"British-born violinist Pip Clarke could stand in for Jennifer Garner in the 'Alias' series, she's a dishy, long-haired young woman with powerful personality and musical muscles to match. Critics worldwide have dubbed her 'Superwoman of Strings', and Friday night the Clay Center audience found out why, as she played Erich Korngold's 'Violin Concerto Op. 3' with the West Virginia Symphony. They were so overpowered with her rendition of the unfamiliar, fiendishly difficult work that they applauded and cheered between each movement, not usually good concert hall etiquette.

Clarke's commanding artistry took immediate possession of the piece, releasing a sonorous rich tone very much her own. Her pitch is dead on and her bowing virtuosic: the two most important elements of violin technique.