Mesmerising.
That’s the only word to describe Augustin Hadelich’s performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61, with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
Hadelich earned a standing ovation at Claudelands Arena, Hamilton, New Zealand, tonight, after captivating the crowd with his violin.
During Beethoven’s life, music director Edo de Waart says in the in te programme, there were only two documented performances of his Violin Concerto: allegro ma non trappa Larghetta – Rondo (Allegro).
Hadelich, de Waart said, is a beautiful player and rightly regarded as one of the finest violinists of his generation. Tonight’s audience agreed. Most people sat still as they watched him make his violin sing and listened to Beethoven’s beautiful music. But some, like myself, joined Hadelich as he nodded his head to the marvellous music being made on Hamilton’s biggest stage. He was in the zone, I thought, as someone behind me enunciated what I was thinking.
Then, after 42 minutes, it was all over. Hadelich, bowing to the pressure of the crowd who demanded more, came back for an encore with Paganini’s Caprice No.21.
“Wow, it was just stunning,” said my 12-year old son Thomas.
de Waart promised a “deeply moving” Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73, from the pen of Johannes Brahms before conducting the eclectic piece which dallies between light and dark.
Brahms’ work is more reminiscent of incidental movie music, although it was composed before the medium was invented. In the hands of de Waart and the NZSO it was a fitting end to a wonderful night of music.
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