Excellent Playing from Augustin Hadelich

Benjamin Britten's only violin concerto was written in 1938-9 when he was 25 years old. Its opus number is only 15. I have long had a soft spot for the work and currently have 18 different recordings of it. The latest comes from Augustin Hadelich, one of the finest of today's finest violinists, and it is a truly excellent version. Played with immense feeling (and no lack of technique) and very ably partnered with the WDR Sinfoieorchester conducted by Christian Macelaru. Warner gives it an excellent recording, though listening to some of the pianissimo passages requires more imagination than ears; the recording has a wide dynamic range. One of my three-star recordings. (Unusually for me, Arabella Steinbacher, James Ehnes, Ida Haendel, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Simone Lamsma, and Vilde Frang also all earn my rare three stars in this work. It appears to be a concerto that you play well if you really love it).

Also on the CD is my one of my favourite encores: Recuerdos de la Alhambra by Francisco Tarrega. Arranged by Ruggiero Ricci, Hadelich plays it better than Ricci ever did, with bow control to leave you open-mouthed. Then on to Sarasate's Fantaisie de concert sur des motifs de l'opéra Carmen, a far superior fantasy than that of Franz Waxman, that was puffed up with Hollywood kitsch. Hadelich confirms himself as a very superior violinist, and leaves me wondering why I bother keeping a myriad of recordings by past violinists such as Szigeti, Milstein, Szeryng, Oistrakh, Francescatti, Perlman, Huberman, et al. Did they really have something that modern violinists such as Hadelich do not?

On to the final work: Prokofiev's second violin concerto. Prokofiev and Stravinsky are not my favourite 20^th century Russians, unlike Rachmaninov and Shostakovich. Of Prokofiev's two violin concertos, I much prefer the first, that is less “commercial” and crowd-pleasing in its concept. Hadelich and his orchestral partner play the second Prokofiev concerto entirely admirably. In fact, I think I prefer it to the classic Heifetz recording. I had a great deal of respect for Augustin Hadelich after his recent CDs of the Bach sonatas and partitas, a CD of Czech works, and Paganini's 24 Capricci. My respect increases; not only can he play the violin like an angel; he also shows a real empathy for the music he is playing. Roll on more Hadelich recordings!