American Road Trip

1. AMY BEACH - Romance Op. 23
2. COLERIDGE-TAYLOR PERKINSON - Louisiana Blues Strut: A Cakewalk
3. CHARLES IVES - Sonata No. 4 - Children’s Day at the Camp Meeting, I. Allegro
4. CHARLES IVES - Sonata No. 4 - Children’s Day at the Camp Meeting, II. Largo – Allegro – con slugarocko
5. CHARLES IVES - Sonata No. 4 - Children’s Day at the Camp Meeting, III. Allegro
6. WILLIAM KROLL - Banjo and Fiddle
7. MANUEL PONCE - Estrellita (arr. Heifetz)
8. STEPHEN HARTKE, Netsuke (2011), 6 Movements for Violin and Piano, I. Tengu, The Shapeshifter That Feeds On The Falsely Holy
9. STEPHEN HARTKE - Netsuke (2011), 6 Movements for Violin and Piano, II. Tadamori and the Oil-thief
10. STEPHEN HARTKE - Netsuke (2011), 6 Movements for Violin and Piano, III. Tanuki Playing The Samisen
11. STEPHEN HARTKE - Netsuke (2011), 6 Movements for Violin and Piano, IV. Baku, The Monster That Devours Nightmares
12. STEPHEN HARTKE - Netsuke (2011), 6 Movements for Violin and Piano, V. Demons Carrying A Rich Man To Hell
13. STEPHEN HARTKE - Netsuke (2011), 6 Movements for Violin and Piano, VI. Jewel Of Wisdom With Mountain Pavilions
14. DANIEL BERNARD ROUMAIN - Filter
15. DANIEL BERNARD ROUMAIN - Wild Fiddler’s Rag (arr. Hadelich, after Howdy Forrester)
16. EDDIE SOUTH - Black Gypsy
17. JOHN ADAMS - Road Movies, I. Relaxed Groove
18. JOHN ADAMS - Road Movies, II. Meditative
19. JOHN ADAMS - Road Movies, III. 40% Swing
20. LEONARD BERNSTEIN - Somewhere (from West Side Story Suite, arr. Raimundo Penaforte)
21. AARON COPLAND - Hoe-Down

Violinist Augustin Hadelich embarks on an American Road Trip, travelling the musical highways and byways of his adoptive homeland in the company of pianist Orion Weiss.

The duo perform works by a melting pot of American composers, writing in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries and drawing on a diversity of idioms, influences and inspirations… from European Romanticism to revivalist hymns; from blues and jazz to bluegrass; from the banjo and ukulele to Jimi Hendrix’s guitar, and from a little Mexican star to exquisite Japanese carvings. Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, Charles Ives and John Adams take their place beside Amy Beach, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Eddie South, Howdy Forrester, Manuel M. Ponce and – flying the flag for today’s composers along with Adams – Daniel Bernard Roumain and Stephen Hartke. If any work overtly expresses the free spirit of an American road trip, it is Adams’ three-movement Road Movies. “It is an exhilarating work that Orion and I have performed countless times,” writes Hadelich, “each performance a meditative high-speed adrenaline ride through its intricate rhythms.”

Augustin Hadelich made a transatlantic trip at the age of 19 to study at New York’s Juilliard School, having grown up in Italy, where he was born to German parents. He became an American citizen in 2014. Ten years on, in March 2024, The Strad, the ‘bible’ of the violin world, published a substantial interview with Hadelich, written by the magazine’s former editor Ariane Todes. “Hadelich’s playing brings together the best qualities of both American and European playing,” she wrote, “passion, polish and coherence, but also thoughtfulness, expressivity and nuance.”

As the article in The Strad explains, “Although he was born in Europe, Hadelich’s career took off in North America first, following his first prize in the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis in 2006 and then an Avery Fischer Career Grant in 2009.” Hadelich takes up the theme: “For many years I was mostly playing in North America… It is still my musical home, but I am very happy about playing more in Europe these days as well.”

Just how welcome he has made himself in the USA becomes evident from the response to his concerts in 2023. The Chicago Classical Review appreciated “the sensuous warmth of his lyrical playing,“ but also his “vivacious energy, rhythmic bite and firm expressive commitment.” When he appeared with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, its concertmaster described him as “one of my favourite violinists living today… truly a musician's musician." His performance in Los Angeles was greeted by five standing ovations and his interpretation of Mendelssohn’s much-loved violin concerto exemplified his gift for melding myriad elements into a satisfying whole. “It felt like a 21st century take by a 21st century virtuoso,” reported Violinist.com, “several hundred years' worth of ideas and scholarship about this piece distilled by one thoughtful and powerfully accomplished artist... This was Mendelssohn on fire – fast and exhilarating in the outer movements, with liquid gold in the centre for the middle movement... This accumulation of so many details, so well attended to, performed with such obvious joy and ease – elevated his performance to the level of rare artistry.”

Hadelich’s encore after the concerto (and after the first standing ovation) was Wild Fiddler’s Rag, which features on American Road Trip. His own virtuosic arrangement of a piece by the Tennessee bluegrass fiddler Howdy Forrester (1922-1987), prompted a further encore. As Violinist.com wrote: “It seemed clear that the audience would have tried to keep Hadelich playing all night.” Eventually, though, it must have been time for him to hit the road.