Violinist Augustin Hadelich turned a lot of heads and ears with his recording of the Brahms Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77, and he does it again with this collection of Czech pieces, featuring and flowing from Dvořák. The Bohemian Tales title is not just a marketing concept but describes his approach: the Dvořák Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53, is not a clean essay in Brahmsian style, but one of Dvořák's most Czech pieces, with a very folkish (and folk-fiddle) finale and a discursive, narrative touch throughout. Hadelich's shorter pieces for violin and piano (he is ably backed by Charles Owen) are designed to continue with the contrasts set up in the concerto. In the Janáček Violin Sonata, he expertly catches the tension between Dvořák's lyricism and the edgier material in which Janáček decisively departs from that. The other pieces showcase Hadelich's ability to touch the heartstrings: shorter Dvořák works, the highly melodic Four Pieces, Op. 17, of Josef Suk, and the ending, with his own transcription of the fourth of Dvořák's Seven Gypsy Songs, Op. 55, and lastly No. 7 from the Eight Humoresques, Op. 101, in the arrangement by Fritz Kreisler. This is about as familiar as a classical violin piece can be, but all earlier memories are swept away in an entrancing finale. Hadelich is looking like a major star in the making.
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