Augustin Hadelich at NPR

From NPR, a Tiny Desk Concert, with Augustin Hadelich, violin, and Kuang-Hao Huang, piano. Music by John Adams, Antonín Dvořák, and Josef Suk. Details here.

I’ve known about Augustin Hadelich for some time: Elaine was there to hear him play and interview him at the event that launched his career, the 2006 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. She knew right away that she was hearing an extraordinary musician. His playing and teaching show up again and again on her blog.

Hadelich and Weiss, streaming

Before it gets any later in the day: Augustin Hadelich, violin, and Orion Weiss, piano, may be heard tonight, 8:00 EDT, in a recital from Tanglewood. Music by John Adams, Johannes Brahms, and Claude Debussy. Admission: $12. The performance will remain available through August 1.

Related reading
Three more posts about Augustin Hadelich

Fine’s Price

Fambly excitement: the violinist Augustin Hadelich has invited violinists everywhere to record themselves playing the violin part from Elaine’s arrangement of Florence Price’s “Adoration,” a piece for organ that Elaine arranged for violin and piano. Augustin will play the piano part, choose from various violin performances, and sync the results.

A related post
An Augustin Hadelich Tiny Desk Concert

Elaine Fine, “Adoration” arranger

The online music-magazine Van (as in Beethoven) has an article by Felix Linsmeier about Florence Price’s “Adoration”: “Das Über-Orgel-Stück”. Or in (Google’s) translation, “The Over-Organ Piece.” The German title is a translation of Elaine’s characterization of “Adoration” as a “super-organ piece.”

The article credits Elaine as “wohl die Pionierin der weiten Welt der Adoration-Adaptionen” — “arguably the pioneer of the wide world of ‘Adoration’ adaptations.” Elaine has arranged “Adoration” for violin, viola, cello, flute, clarinet, and tuba (each with piano), six violas, violin soloist and orchestra, string orchestra, and orchestra. She’s made all her arrangements of this (public domain) composition available at no cost through the IMSLP.

It’s good to see Florence Price’s music getting new attention in the twenty-first century. And it’s good to see an arranger — especially this one — get some recognition for her work. Give the composer some. And give the arranger some too.

Here, from 2020, is Elaine’s first arrangement of “Adoration,” for violin and piano, with the eminent violinist Augustin Hadelich at the piano and thirty-seven other musicians.

The Vienna Philharmonic to play Florence Price’s “Adoration” (arr. Elaine Fine)

The Vienna Philharmonic will perform Elaine’s orchestral arrangement of Florence Price’s “Adoration” as part of a June 19 Sommernachtskonzert [Summer Night Concert]. Wow!

(DeepL tells me that the German for wow is wow .)

In 2022, an article in the online classical-music publication Van (now firewalled) described Elaine as “wohl die Pionierin der weiten Welt der Adoration-Adaptionen” — “arguably the pioneer of the wide world of ‘Adoration’ adaptations.” Indeed, she has arranged this (public domain) piece, written for organ, for all manner of instruments and ensembles, often by request, and has made her arrangements available free of charge at the IMSLP.

“Adoration” is everywhere. In the dark days of the pandemic, “Adoration” for violin and piano became an online project for Augustin Hadelich and thirty-seven other musicians. We were both moved to tears when we learned that a string orchestra played “Adoration” at a Chicago vigil for the violinst Elijah McClain, killed by police in Aurora, Colorado.

Elaine tells her “Adoration” story in this post.

Related reading
Elaine’s “Adoration” posts
My “Adoration” posts

Florence Price’s “Adoration”

Augustin Hadelich at the piano, with thirty-seven other musicians, performing Florence Price’s “Adoration.” It’s a piece for organ, arranged for violin and piano by our household’s composer and arranger Elaine Fine. It’s a beautiful project. My response to these performances in this year of sorrows is beyond words.