Violinist Augustin Hadelich embarks on an American Road Trip, travelling the musical highways and by ways of his adoptive homeland in the company of pianist Orion Weiss. The duo perform works by a melting pot of American composers, writing in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries and drawing on a diversity of idioms, influences and inspirations... from European Romanticism to revivalist hymns; from blues and jazz to bluegrass; from the banjo and ukulele to Jimi Hendrix's guitar, and from a little Mexican star to exquisite Japanese carvings. Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, Charles Ives and John Adams take their place beside Amy Beach, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Eddie South, Howdy Forrester, Manuel M. Ponce and - flying the flag for today's composers along with Adams - Daniel Bernard Roumain and Stephen Hartke. Augustin Hadelich, born in Italy to German parents, moved to the USA at the age of 19 to study at New York's Juilliard School and became an American citizen in 2014. In the words of The Strad magazine, "Hadelich's playing brings together the best qualities of both American and European playing: passion, Polish and coherence, but also thoughtfulness, expressivity and nuance."

This electrifying performance gives vivid testimony to the multifaceted partnership of James Gaffigan and the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and invites us to explore the conductor's American roots. The program features Leonard Bernstein's mischievous dances from West Side Story, Charles Ives's spiritual Symphony No.3, the dramatically potent dissonance of Ruth Crawford's Andante for strings and Samuel Barber's boldly athletic Toccata for organ and orchestra.

Piano Sonata No. 2

Classical Music

Ives: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3