Winning the Michael Hill International Violin Competition is much more than simply banking $40,000.
Every bit as important is a Winners Tour the following year, incorporating recitals throughout the country with Chamber Music New Zealand and a concerto performance with Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, as well as the opportunity to record a CD on the prestigious Atoll label.
Well-timed for this week's 2017 competition, a new release from 2015 winner Suyeon Kang, with pianist Stephen De Pledge, is a treasured reminder of some of the memorable music heard on their 2016 tour.
The pairing of works by Bartok and Bloch is inspired, music by a Hungarian and a Jewish composer that shares the same deeply-etched passion to which Kang responds so brilliantly.
From the start, she catches the full dramatic impact of Bartok's 1921 First Sonata, as De Pledge lays down mysterious Debussian textures behind her. Producer Wayne Laird almost becomes a third player in the hushed moments of the Adagio, as the microphone reveals the ultimate intimacy of bow on string. A positively seismic jolt from De Pledge sets off a finale that unleashes some formidable fire and fury.
