Jue Yao's 'debut' was a smashing one. Some two decades ago, she was the little girl coached by Isaac Stern in the Oscar-winning From Mao To Mozart. Since then, Jue has gone to Juilliard, made several recordings and over the past few years received her fair share of critical plaudits. Her first full recital in Hong Kong showed that her reputation is not unfounded. After a calamitous opening Mozart Adagio, she got her act together and produced some thrilling sounds. Performing on the renowned 'Dankla' Stradivarius loaned by Sandra Wagstaff, she created a resonance which sang through the City Hall. In the spikier moments of Prokofiev's Second Sonata, even the most complex passages had a singing transparency. And during the opening of Jean Martinon's Sonatine for solo violin, she played the legato lines with a seamless security. Considering that the Prokofiev is a rather intimate work, Jue's thrashing, almost violent, playing was almost disconcerting. In fact, one had to admire her brashness more than the interpretation itself. Nor could one forget Gabriel Kwok, whose accompaniment, as always, was a model of decorum. He is enough of an artist himself never to over-play his soloist, even in this work, where piano is equal to violin. In the Martinon, Jue played the two movements with a Gallic smoothness, making nary an error in the difficult double-stopping finale. These were the only two 'big' pieces in the recitaland Jue stood out. Her Kreisler-Pugnani piece was played with fearless, broad strokes and the Saint-Saens Rondo Capriccioso, after a droopy introduction, had the same brash security. Known for her Butterfly Lovers recording, Jue turned her two minor Chinese pieces into truly captivating songs. Partly by the glorious sounds of her instrument, but mostly by her splendid lyrical sense, Jue obviously has a future as bright as her music. Jue Yao, violin, Gabriel Kwok, piano; City Hall Concert Hall, May 12