In Poznań, Poland on a recent Tuesday night, the Chinese violinist Meng Zou played the second movement of the Sibelius Violin Concerto with a burning, overdriven tone. The outer movements featured some inconsistencies in articulation, and he didn’t fully climb into the concerto in the way many of the standout violinists do on record. Zou had made it to the semi-finals of the 17th Henry Wieniawski Violin Competition. I didn’t think he’d make it much further.
