Hagegård and Jones dazzle audience with brilliant performances

After a prolonged silence, a rapturous standing ovation greeted Håkon Hagegård and Warren Jones at the conclusion of a concert where the collaboration between singer and pianist attained the highest limits of artistic achievement. In a sold-out Auer Hall on Friday evening, these two musical giants demonstrated firsthand how magnificent a song composer Franz Schubert truly was, and how emotionally powerful Schubert's music can be.\nHagegård's singing of Schubert's Die Winterreise was, in a word, a masterpiece. Hagegård's voice showed incredible flexibility, including a wide dynamic range, and a wonderful ability to control the kind and amount of vibrato placed on each note. When singing in the high registers, Hagegård sometimes perilously dared to thread and control the quality and volume of tone, a technical and virtuosic feat which when used enhanced a careful portrayal of the text. Every word sung was filled with nuance and subtlety, with the constantly changing character and mood of the cycle coming off perfectly. The hand and body gestures effectively communicated the emotions of the cycle without becoming distracting. \nHis choice to have no intermission (a risky prospect for most singers for fear of losing their voice) created no difficulty for Hagegård and allowed the music to have its intended continuous dramatic thrust without interruption.\nHagegård's counterpart on the piano, Jones, was equally impressive. Jones showed a complete musical and technical mastery at the keyboard. Jones' sensitivity to Hagegård, as well as his painstaking coloration in the voicings of chords, were spectacular. Even in the movements that had dense or busy figuration, the melody or primary line in the piano sang clearly and beautifully, with a purity of sound that was truly breathtaking. The technical command Jones displayed was brilliant. Jones pulled off the most difficult movements of the cycle with what seemed to be unbelievable ease. The playing was nothing short of first rank, and practically note-perfect.\nThe audience agreed. Almost ten seconds elapsed between the end of the work and when the first audience member clapped. Hagegård and Jones had so beautifully crystallized the despairing final mood of the cycle that no one wanted to clap, for to do so would have disturbed the mood and atmosphere these two artisans had so carefully sculpted. When the audience finally did applaud, it was tumultuous and appreciative, and the musicians had to come on and off stage several times to acknowledge the satisfied and excited crowd. This performance achieved the heights of profundity and artistry, and in the words of highly respected IU music professor Dr. Robert Hatten, "it was perfect"