Augustin Hadelich @ The NY Philharmonic

Above: Augustin Hadelich; photo Jesse Costa/WBUR.

Author: Scoresby

Thursday May 25th 2017 – In a flavorful all-Czech program, the young conductor Jakub Hrůša made his New York Philharmonic debut at David Geffen Hall. The violinist Augustin Hadelich was featured on the program, returning to the New York Philharmonic. While I had never heard Mr. Hrůša before, I have been a fan of Mr. Hadelich’s for some time.

The first piece on the program was the enigmatic Dvorak Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53. This is a virtuosic showpiece from early on in Dvorak’s career and has never been a favorite of mine. Mr. Hadelich gave an astoundingly clean, dexterous, and lyrical account once again proving he is a superb interpreter. In the first movement he managed to structure the wandering sections and yet still find time to pause to savor the lyrical sections. The orchestra had a warm sound, but the orchestral writing for this piece is too large for a solo violin. Nonetheless, the musicians blended well with Mr. Hadelich’s tone, creating a very satisfying performance. There was a moment at the end of the first movement in which the horn and violin seemed to fuse timbres creating a beautiful effect evoking a warmer version of a woods call. These sensual movements made the piece much more exciting than I had expected.

Another was the way the woodwinds played the searing melody during the first movement – it felt like the one could feel the energy from that section of the orchestra. During the virtuosic final movement, Mr. Hadelich managed to playfully entertain with the many Czech dances – the orchestra following his lead well under Mr. Hrůša. Right before launching into the fast pace finish, Mr. Hadelich took one dramatic pause as if to breathe. It was perfectly timed and made the rush to the finish even more alert. As an encore, he gave a technically perfect and surprisingly lyrical account of Paganini’s Caprice No. 1. Mr. Hadelich managed to squeeze all the color that one can out of a showpiece like that.

Above, conductor Jakub Hrůša photographed by Andreas Herzau

The evening’s second half started with three of Dvroak’s Slavonic Dances: Op. 46, No. 1; Op. 72, No.2; and Op. 72, No. 7. The first one is a loud colorful fanfare that sounds nationalistic. Mr. Hrůša led a clear account that let the instruments breathe – the crowd burst into applause at the finish of this dance. The second is a much more tragic/lyrical piece which was deftly handled. While indulging for some of the thick textures, Mr. Hrůša made sure to keep the orchestra at bay to build into the third piece in the set – which sounded similar to the opening fanfare. These were crowd-pleasers certainly, but played well and with a sense of purpose.

After having read about it and listened to it on recording for many years, I finally got the chance to hear Janacek’s Taras Bulba, Rhapsody for Orchestra. This imaginative piece is loosely based on Gogol’s eponymous novella – but Janacek picks three particular scenes to set into music. The first depicts the son of Taras Bulba falling in love with a Polish woman, which eventually ends when Taras executes him for treason. The music itself alternates between sweeping sections depicting the tryst and intense war sounds. In the background of both sections the organ and bells are a constant reminder of his fate.

Mr. Hrůša drew a colorful and dramatic account, creating extremes in the alternate sections while having enough charisma to push through the piece. The orchestra emphasized the special sound effects well. The ending chord with the organ and bells created an almost vacuum-like effect, throwing the hall into silence. During the second movement, Taras Bulba’s other son is captured by the Polish and is watching them dance as his death draws nearer and nearer. Eventually after meeting Taras Bulba he is executed.

Here the orchestra sounded much lighter than in the first movement. The harps in the introduction lifted up the entire orchestra, playing both passionately and lyrically. The players managed to produce pulsing dance rhythms well, making the dance seem stuttering and intense. I noticed many similarities between the structure of this movement and Janacek’s second string quartet. He uses the violins in many of the same ways and the opening chords of the quartet appear through the entirety of second movement of the orchestral piece. I also noticed that Janacek manages to create sweeping opera-like sections. Mr. Hrůša managed to get deep anxious playing from the orchestra leading into the final bars. As if to add to the musical drama some audience member shouted a defiant “Nooo!” just as the movement was ending.

While the last movement depicts Taras Bulba dying, he also sees his own soldiers escaping capture. Thus the music Janacek compose during this movement is mighty and proud. While well played, Mr. Hrůša had the orchestra climax in volume too early, making the other large dynamics less powerful.

Nonetheless, one of my favorite parts of the piece is when the percussion strikes silencing all of the other instruments. The horns then slowly come in out of sync with each other, creating a call and response echoing effect. The orchestra pulled this off perfectly – building to a dramatic ending with the organ and bells being used to maximum effect. The result was both terrifying and uplifting, transporting the audience to the idealist vision of Janacek’s fantasy.

~ Scoresby