"A Deal with the Devil": Liszt, Tartini, Paganini, and Stravinsky

This darkly dramatic concert from La Jolla SummerFest 2024 features an all-star lineup — including violinist Augustin Hadelich, pianist Inon Barnatan, and multi-hyphenate Thomas Adès stepping in as conductor — in a program of nonstop devilish delights! Barnatan conjures up Faustian enchantment in the first of Liszt's Mephisto Waltzes before the virtuosic Hadelich takes on a diabolical double header at the violin: Tartini's extraordinarily difficult "Devil's Trill" Sonata, inspired by the composer's dream of a fiddling devil, and the famed 24th Caprice by Paganini, himself possessed of such superhuman skill that some listeners could only think to ascribe them a malevolent provenance… Finally, we're treated to Stravinsky's L'Histoire du Soldat (The Soldier's Tale), a theatrical work of deliciously wide-ranging musical styles performed by a talented septet of instrumentalists with the actor Danny Burstein, conducted by maestro Adès.

Photo © Luca Valentina