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The Milwaukee Shepherd Express conjectured that Augustin Hadelich “well may be the best violinist in the world. [His] gorgeous sound is ample and rich always. Every detail is played with perfectly clear intent.” His performance last summer of the Prokofiev Second Concerto was praised by Chicago Classical Review for its “warmth… lyrical playing, aided by a fast vibrato… matched by the vivacious energy, rhythmic bite and firm expressive commitment [in] the more brilliant pages.” Hadelich thinks the first movement’s mysterious opening may have inspired the score for Harry Potter. The second movement is full of the lush romanticism that Prokofiev lavished on the Romeo and Juliet ballet he was composing at the same time. In the saucy finale, Prokofiev lets out all the stops, shifting the mood to a wild dance complete with castanets in anticipation of the work’s premiere in Madrid.

Thanks to hypnotherapy, we have Rachmaninoff’s melodious and inspiring Second Symphony, as well as his popular Second Piano Concerto. After the disaster of his First Symphony – conducted by a reputedly drunk Alexander Glazunov and described by the composer Cesar Cui as a work based on the ten plagues of Egypt that would “delight the inhabitants of Hell” – the 23 year-old composer came close to throwing in the towel. He sought the help of Dr. Nikolai Dahl, and after daily sessions, his confidence was restored. The gorgeous main melody of the third movement stands out as one of the most beautiful in the entire symphonic repertoire, and the outer movements are marked by rhythmic propulsion and structural mastery.

Opening the program is Surge by Wang Lu, a product of an initiative by the League of American Orchestras to commission new works from six women composers, and premiered last year by the New York Philharmonic. The piece is described as containing “elements of an enormous score skillfully accordioned into the shape of a much smaller one. From the flourish of its first measure, Surge is a restless succession of swinging gestures, martial flashes and exercises in disparate, assertive voices coming in and out of focus, then occasionally finding common ground in a tutti mass.”

Hear the incomparable Augustin Hadelich and two thrilling Russian masterworks!

Surge was commissioned by the League of American Orchestras with the generous support of the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation