Augustin Hadelich at Town Hall (Peoples' Symphony Concerts)

Augustin Hadelich, a violinist, received the all-star treatment from The New York Times on Friday, April 16, with a big feature article leading up to his Town Hall recital this afternoon with pianist Akira Eguchi.  Mr. Hadelich played works by Stravinsky, Takemitsu, Debussy, Ysaye, Schumann and Sarasate.  Boy, did he play them!

Hadelich, age 26, is a fully-formed musician, a confident master of his difficult instrument, and a thrilling interpreter of a wide range of music.  The six composers on his program each came from a different country and musical tradition, but all the stylistic differences were accommodated in their appropriate fashions.  I was particularly impressed by his playing of Schumann's Violin Sonata, Op. 105, a late work that can sound repetitious and muddy in the hands of an unimaginative interpreter, but that was no problem with Hadelich, who made glorious music out of all three movements.

The printed program omitted the Sarasate Zigeunerweisen, a work that was listed on the PSC website as part of this program, but Hadelich played it as an encore, then adding the same composer's "Zapateado," an even more daunting work, tossed off insouciantly.

The Times article emphasized the significant obstacle the violinist has surmounted to achieve his professional success.  A child prodigy, he suffered severe burns to his face and upper body in an accidental fire at age 15, and had to undergo substantial therapy and numerous operations to get to the point where he could take up the violin again.  His face and right hand still provide physical evidence of these challenges, but his confident manner and thrilling playing show that he has gotten past these obstacles in fine style.

The original publicity I saw suggested that the pianist for this recital would be Rohan de Silva, who performed with Mr. Hadelich in recital at the Frick Gallery late last year, but in the event it turned out to be Akira Eguchi, a young pianist who had everything well in hand and contributed greatly to the success of the program.  I would like to hear more of both of these fine artists, and I hope PSC will bring them back in a future season.  I also hope that we can hear Mr. Hadelich in the concerto repertory, so a shout out here to the various orchestras in this city!  According to the Times article, his concerto repertory includes Shostakovich and Bartok, and the new Ades Violin Concerto, so bring them on!!!

Comments

[doctorjohn]

I have noticed your excellent Blog several times. We're both enthusiasts of the PSC concerts, which the NYT doesn't always review!

I have also written about the Hadelich and Belcea concerts on my Blog. I think we're in almost total agreement.

http://djclassical.blogspot.com/

Happy listening.

[Art Leonard]

The odd thing is that the NY Times gave a big build-up to the Hadelich recital with a feature article, but then didn't review it. Strange!

I was inspired by the recital to seek out more of his recordings. I had already heard the recent solo release. Now I've also heard the Telemann Fantasies and the Haydn Violin Concerti, both on Naxos, and I can report that they are both superb recordings.