Since the Italian musician Nicolò Paganini invented the travelling violin virtuoso early in the 19th century, every era has had its own violinist superstar. After Paganini came the Austrians Joseph Joachim (for whom Brahms wrote his Violin Concerto) and Fritz Kreisler. In the 20th century the brilliant Jascha Heifetz became a household word, universally proclaimed the “violinist of the century.” He even played himself in Hollywood films.

Itzhak Perlman.

^{Courtesy photo}

Today we are blessed with a galaxy of A-list violinists that includes Pinchas Zuckerman, Cho-Liang Lin, Midori, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Gil Shaham, Joshua Bell, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, and, of course, Itzhak Perlman, who performed a sold-out recital at Copley Hall Sunday (January 24). There is no concensus that any of these violinists is top dog, but Perlman at age 64 can claim seniority.

At this stage of his much-honored career, Perlman apparently has nothing to prove, only to demonstrate that his immaculate technique still functions as seamlessly as ever. I am happy to report that his ardent, shimmering tone and his marvelous facility are still very much in evidence. Bravo!

From this recital, however, it is clear that he has sent his own musical curiosity off to some distant retirement home where it languishes incommunicado. His predictable program of sonatas by Mozart and Beethoven, Igor Stravinsky’s neo-classical “Suite Italienne,” and a fistful of Kreisler and Heifetz virtuoso encores could have been played 50 years ago. By Perlman, even.

Has nothing happened in the last 50 years? Oh yes, in his string of encores Perlman gave us John Williams’ “Theme from Schindler’s List,” a well-crafted and wistful imitation of 19th-century European style that Kreisler could have improvised at a late-night party in Vienna.

Let me give credit where credit is due. Pianist Rohan De Silva played the Mozart “Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Major,” K. 526, with understated brilliance, a supple, articulate fluidity that was completely faithful to Mozartean style and practice. Granted, this piece is really a piano sonata with modest violin decoration, like the French rococo clavecin sonatas out of which the virtuoso violin sonata eventually emerged.

Although De Silva did all of the heavy lifting in the Mozart, Perlman did his part in Beethoven’s C Minor “Eroica” Sonata, Op. 30, No. 2, where the equal effort of piano and violin is necessary to create the composer’s heady drama. Perlman communicated nobility and pathos in the “Adagio cantabile” second movement and brought energetic precision to the “Finale, Allegro.”

Following intermission, Perlman attended adroitly to Stravinsky’s “Suite Italienne,” a modest chamber piece carved out from the composer’s successful 1920 ballet “Pulcinella.” There was no lack of spark or wit in Perlman’s approach, and De Silva’s accompanying deftly portrayed the composer’s homage to Mozart.

The encores included Kreisler’s own “Minuetto” and a transcription of Manuel de Falla’s “Spanish Dance,” as well as transcriptions by Heifetz of Manuel Poncé’s “Mi estrellita” and George Gershwin’s “I Got Plenty of Nothin’.”

I could not help but compare this recital to Yo-Yo Ma's solo recital last season at the Balboa Theatre. Ma's program of J. S. Bach solo cello sonatas was not only a technical miracle, but a profoundly moving experience. Perhaps Perlman has made an agreement with Ma to leave the musical profundity to his colleague and has decided instead to be the genial entertainer. If so, he has succeeded.

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