KC Symphony, violinist Augustin Hadelich offer passionate, captivating performance

Passion, consuming passion, can redeem or destroy. The Kansas City Symphony’s program Friday in Helzberg Hall fostered the redemption aspect, with music director Michael Stern conducting.

This was a heavily romantic program; its selections pushed the boundaries of traditional harmonies with thematic elements that challenged the social mores of their eras.

Though Richard Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde” related a passionate, traumatic story with inventive harmonies, neither the orchestra nor the audience seemed invested in the Prelude and “Leibestod.” Coughing fits and tentative entrances marred the exposed introduction, resulting in a lackluster opening work that felt like time wasted in comparison to the rest of the program.

Fortunately, the wan exhibit was cast aside by the captivating brilliance of violinist Augustin Hadelich with the first bow stroke in Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1. Hadelich’s sweet, full-bodied tone rasped appealingly in the lower register.

He was commanding and joyous, rejuvenating the concert with melodic and dramatic sense. The orchestra was likewise energized and played up to Hadelich, responding well to Stern.

After hugging both conductor and concertmaster and acknowledging the audience’s heartfelt ovation, Hadelich continued with an encore of Niccolò Paganini’s Caprice No. 5, an intensely pyrotechnic work presented with aplomb.

“Verklärte Nacht” (Transfigured Night) is a stunningly honest and intimate work by Arnold Schoenberg, based on Richard Dehmel’s poem of forgiveness and love’s powers of absolution.

Originally written for string sextet, the expanded string orchestra version included solo opportunities for the principal players, and they, in turn, displayed excellent chamber musician sensibilities, with particularly interesting lines in the lower voices.

The work evolved from somber, emotional agitation, through episodes of tension and release, and culminated with a hopeful, shimmering quality, the final moments of tremolo and pizzicato lovingly evocative of stars glimmering in the firmament.

But the thrill of the concert was doubtless Maurice Ravel’s Suite No. 2 from “Daphnis et Chloé.” Ravel, a genius in instrumental coloring, created a vivid pastoral portrait of dawn and dance, as the lovers are reunited.

The orchestra’s performance was insightful and responsive. Within the reliably first class wind section, principal flute Michael Gordon was exceptional in his extensive solo, a throaty, silvered tone frolicking on the lilting melody.

The final moments served as the climax to the entire concert. The rollicking swirl from the strings and winds, accented by precise, fortissimo interjections from brass and percussion, was met with forceful and prolonged applause.

This story was originally published June 6, 2015 at 8:12 AM with the headline "KC Symphony, violinist Augustin Hadelich offer passionate, captivating performance."