Allan Kozinn on Augustin Hadelich

"Augustin Hadelich seems to enjoy going it alone. After a debut recording of all the Haydn violin concertos for Naxos, he turned to Telemann’s 12 unaccompanied fantasias, also on Naxos. Now he … offers … an appealingly idiosyncratic collection that frames three Paganini showpieces (the Caprices Nos. 4, 9 and 21) and two of Ysaÿe’s short sonatas with more grandly scaled, harmonically thorny scores by Bartok and Bernd Alois Zimmermann. … Bach’s spirit hovers over Bartok’s Sonata for Solo Violin (1944). Opening with a Tempo di Ciaccona that evokes the Chaconne of Bach’s Partita No. 2, it then follows a Baroque formal design, with a fugue, an adagio and a presto. And though Bartok quickly breaks free of Bach’s orbit, distant flickers of his influence return throughout the work. … Mr. Hadelich plays both [the Bartok and Zimmermann works] with an exacting focus, an unerring dramatic sense and a rich, beautiful tone. … The hunting calls that open Paganini’s Caprice No. 9 have a playful deftness that gives way to an easygoing but winning virtuosity. And Mr. Hadelich makes the most of the dark introspection in Ysaÿe’s Sonatas Nos. 3 and 5" ("Classical Recordings," New York Times, 12/13/09).