When a musician is universally lauded as the best in the world at their craft, they surely would wonder whether they can be even better and whether they can find something new and exciting each time they play the the pieces in their repertoire. They, undoubtedly, would also be spending some time looking over their shoulder to see if anyone is hot on their heels.

Audiences, too, will be expecting something really special and making a comparison or two.

So when the multi award-winning, Soviet-born Israeli violinist Maxim Vengerov and his long-time collaborator, the Russian pianist Polina Osetinskaya, stepped onto the QPAC concert hall stage there was an air, not only of anticipation, but also of expectation.

Maxim Vengerov and Polina Osetinskaya. Photo © Fadi Kheir.

The opening for this recital was disappointing. Prokofiev’s Five Melodies for Violin and Piano (transcribed by the composer from Five Songs Without Words) is a lovely set of short pieces. Lyrical, melodic, almost sentimental. They would be difficult to sing, but not so much for the violin.

Even though both Vengerov and Osetinskaya played them beautifully, they sounded more like a warm-up...