Presto Recordings of the Year
Finalist 2024

Augustin Hadelich (violin), Orion Weiss (piano)

Beach, A: Romance for Violin and Piano, Op. 23
Perkinson: Louisiana Blues Strut "A Cakewalk"
Ives, C: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 4, 'Children's Day at the Camp Meeting'
Kroll: Banjo and Fiddle
Ponce, M: Estrellita (Arr. Heifetz for Violin and Piano)
Hartke: Netsuke "6 Movements for Violin and Piano"
Roumain: Filter
Howdy Forrester: Wild Fiddler's Rag (Arr. Hadelich for Solo Violin)
Eddie South: Black Gypsy
Adams, J: Road Movies for violin & piano
Bernstein: West Side Story: Somewhere (Arr. Penaforte for Violin and Piano)
Copland: Rodeo: Hoe-Down (Version for Violin and Piano)

Violinist Augustin Hadelich embarks on an American Road Trip, travelling the musical highways and by ways 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 21 st 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.

Augustin Hadelich, born in Italy to German parents, moved to the USA at the age of 19 to study at New York’s Juilliard School and became an American citizen in 2014. In the words of The Strad magazine, “Hadelich’s playing brings together the best qualities of both American and European playing: passion, polish and coherence, but also thoughtfulness, expressivity and nuance.”

"It makes for an earcatching excursion celebrating the heady pluralism of American music...Together they forge a formidable partnership, technically fearless and equally at home in the different genres they encounter along the way." - BBC Music Magazine, November 2024