Avie 2347
Augustin Hadelich is the come back kid, having suffered serious burns in a house fire at age fifteen, of which he overcame. Now thirty-two years old, he is among the leading contemporary violinists of our time. In this recent release, Hadelich teams up with pianist Joyce Yang, silver medallist of the 2005 Van Cliburn Piano Competition, in a selection of mostly under-performed yet intriguing repertoire – notwithstanding Franck’s enduring Sonata in A major.
This work was premiered by Eugene Ysaye in 1886 and is given an inspired reading where beloved melodies and opulent passagework are infused with rich expressivity and virtuosic drive. Hadelich’s playing is authoritative, but also contains plenty of nuanced phrasing and subtle bowing articulation, notably in the “Allegro” and “Recitativo-Fantasia” where his palette of sound creates a magical effect. The honey-toned final movement unfolds with breathless pacing and ends in a climax of soaring intensity – all enhanced by his instrument, a 1723 ex-Kiesewetter Stradivarius.
Yang’s superb collaboration provides astute support and unwavering brilliance, also evidenced in Previn’s Tango Song and Dance (1997), dedicated to Anne-Sophie Mutter – an engaging work that contains an irresistible mixture of jazzy characteristics. Hadelich and Yang dive into the rhythmic twists and turns of the seductive “Tango” with lavish flair and his tonal purity in “Song” adds a sense of lilting intimacy.
Schumann’s Sonata No. 1, Op. 105, a piece lacking the emotional depth of this composer’s other chamber music, is played with sweeping energy and sparkling detache in the “Lebhaft” movement. Tre Pezzi Op. 14e (1979) by Hungarian composer Gyorgy Kurtag, now age ninety, is an elusive work where sparse overtones, dissonant sonorities and intervals your music theory teacher told you never to use, create sequences of sonic flashes which Hadelich and Yang convey with atmospheric conviction. A truly exciting recording by two standout talents.