Joseph Joachim Photo: Joseph Joachim drawing: Adolph Menzel [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Joseph Joachim was one of the greatest violinists of the 19th century, mostly known today as the close friend of Brahms. Joachim was born in Hungary before moving west to Germany. As a violinist, he was a prodigious talent…at the age of 18 he may have rescued Beethoven’s Violin Concerto from obscurity with a rousing performance in London and championing it through his career. He was unequalled in Germany as a virtuoso and performed with and inspired composers from Liszt to Mendelssohn, the Schumanns, and perhaps most importantly, Johannes Brahms. Joachim shared with the aspiring composer the Hungarian and Roma-style folk music of his homeland, for which Brahms developed a life-long love. Joachim himself was a composition student of both Mendelssohn and Schumann, but left behind few published works, the most famous of which is his Violin Concerto No. 2 in the Hungarian Style.
The work is grand in both virtuosity and length…even being dubbed ‘the holy grail of romantic violin concertos’ by one critic, and it’s been likened to running a marathon for the violinist. Joachim infused the work with Hungarian and Roma-styled melodies, even calling the finale a Rondo in the Gypsy style. But rather than a show piece, the work bear’s Joachim’s hallmarks as a player: resisting overwrought virtuosity, allowing the music to speak over technical displays.
The New Zealand premiere performance was given by one of our most accomplished violinists, Amalia Hall. Concert-goers will be well familiar with Amalia’s vivid and thrilling performances. In 2022 alone she performed as a soloist with Orchestra Wellington, the Auckland Philharmonia and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra along with a full season of performances with the NZTrio and as Orchestra Wellington’s concert master.
Violinist Amalia Hall Photo: Jennifer Raoult
It’s also a wonderful platform for one of our local virtuoso violinists, Amalia Hall. Concert goers will be well familiar with Amalia’s vivid and thrilling performances. In 2022 alone she performed as a soloist with Orchestra Wellington, the Auckland Philharmonia and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra along with a full season of performances with the NZTrio and as Orchestra Wellington’s concert master.
As if to prove her credentials as a violin virtuoso, she performed music from the Red Violin from the film telling the dramatic story of the lives touched by a special violin, and in this concert she’s giving the New Zealand premiere or Joachim’s Hungarian Concerto.
