Bohemian Tales

Augustin Hadelich (violin), Charles Owen (piano), Symphonie-Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Jakub Hruša

Warner Classics
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“Mr Hadelich increasingly seems to be one of the outstanding violinists of his generation,” wrote the New York Times after Augustin Hadelich played Dvořák’s Violin Concerto under Czech-born Jakub Hrůša’s baton in 2017. Hadelich and Hrůša have now recorded the concerto with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks . Bohemian Tales pairs the concerto with works for violin and piano by Dvořák and two other major Czech composers of the late 19th/early 20th centuries, Leos Janáček and Josef Suk. The pianist is Charles Owen.

Dvořák: Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53
I. Allegro ma non troppo
II. Adagio ma non troppo
III. Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo:

Dvořák: Romantic piece, Op. 75, No. 4

Janáček: Violin Sonata
I. Con moto
II. Ballada
III. Allegretto
IV. Adagio

Suk: Four Pieces for Violin and Piano, Op. 17
No. 1, Quasi ballata
No. 2, Appassionato
No. 3, Un poco triste
No. 4, Burleska

Dvořák: Gypsy Melodies, Op. 55 (B104): No. 4 Když mne stará matka (Songs My Mother Taught Me)

Dvořák: Humoresque in G flat major, Op. 101 No. 7

“How warmly his dolce playing seems to smile… Note, too, the way Hadelich suggests a wiry-sounding folk fiddle in the finale’s D minor interlude… Jakub Hrůša has the Bavarian RSO playing with vigour and a comparable sense of care…Hadelich and his longtime recital partner Charles Owen transform the last of Dvořák’s Four Romantic Pieces, Op 75, into an aching, darkly passionate miniature tone-painting… A superb disc on all counts.” – Gramophone

“With Hruša drawing stylish sounds from the Bavarian orchestra — especially the woodwinds — this performance [of the Concerto] sounds idiomatic, irresistibly dance-like in the closing furiant section, yet with an undertow of melancholy that makes Dvořák so distinctive…Hadelich and Owen dash off the most virtuosic of the music here: Four Pieces Op 17, by Dvořák’s son-in-law, Josef Suk. Delicious.” – The Sunday Times

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