PSO features must-hear violinist

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Get thee to Heinz Hall to hear Augustin Hadelich.

On Friday, the Italian-born violinist delivered a rapturous account of Dvorak’s Violin Concerto with the Pittsburgh Symphony, with guest conductor Cristian Macelaru at the podium for his PSO debut, music by Enescu and Copland rounding out the evening’s program.

Mr. Hadelich and the orchestra kicked off the Dvorak’s opening bars with grit and drama, the music sounding as a sort of Czech Western with the violinist as hero set against a desolate accompaniment. A few brief instances of disconnect from the orchestra aside, Mr. Hadelich’s account of the first two movements (which are joined together by a brief transition) was gripping, the lyrical second movement particularly heartwarming. And then, oh then, a sublime dance through the finale — the violinist tossing off the nimble passagework with an air of simple, infectious joy.

After intermission, Mr. Macelaru led the PSO in Copland’s Symphony No. 3. Copland’s trademark sound, a low drone with widely spaced intervals in the melody, is reminiscent of Dvorak’s homages to the New World, in turn drawn from Native American folk music. The symphony is filled to the brim with this sort of simple, expansive harmonic language, and the PSO delivered a marvelous array of timbre, from a wispy, dewy introduction to the more meaty, sweeping themes later in the work.

As has been a consistent area of concern this season, the brass were too loud in the second movement, even cracking a number of chords in the final movement, only a slight detraction from the work’s overall scope. The softer music was most effective — Mr. Macelaru displayed an uncanny ear for highlighting details without losing track of the work’s larger trajectory. He conducted with controlled, fluid gestures throughout, maintaining a close rapport with the ensemble.

The evening began with Georges Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 in A major, which Mr. Macelaru, a Romanian himself, interpreted with just the right balance of charm and sophistication.