Christian Ihle Hadland, Piano

..."For the evening,s second chamber music piece the Norwegian violinist Anders Kjellberg Nilsson was a last minute replacement in Ravel's Piano Trio together with his fellow country man Christian Ihle Hadland at the piano and Henrik Dam Thomsen as cellist. In long passages one could not hear in any way that it was a trio put together for the event with such grandly laid out variation of volume and temperament, which demanded extremely exact chamber musical communication. But OK, when they come from the very top drawer of Nordic musicians one cannot wonder too much. Hadland's soft piano paws introduced the sound in Ravel's changing delicate weave of slow beauty in soft pastels - and deeply original mix of French chansons, ragtime and classicistic episodes between humour and seriousness. Charming and wistful with rich measures of singing melodies decorated with flickering sound effects. Hadland and Nilsson both born in ´83 both belong to the leading chamber musicians in Norwegian music life".

All indications suggest that Ihle Hadland can develop into a Chopin and Schumann-interpreter of rank. I think that anyone who has followed Chistian Ihle Hadland's development, and heard him in the last year in the concert hall, has expected something great of his solo debut on CD. And I can assure everyone, myself included, that we will not be disappointed! In the works of Chopin and Schumann, this year's jubilee, he shows how much he has achieved as a pianist and musician. That he has chosen to perform relatively rarely performed works by two of the music world’s piano giants, speaks only to his advantage. Ihle Hadland could easily have shone in both more familiar and more virtuosic works. The programme choice is tastefully done, with an eye for pieces that require nuance, dynamic range, delicious rolls and sparkling run, and this is what we, in Norwegian, call a ‘foredrag’: A presentation of the piece itself. The opening of Chopin's Impromptu in A-flat major op. 29 sets the standard at once. The way he sort of floated in with the brilliant opening passage is like listening to the most idiomatic Chopin interpreters, with roots going back to Arthur Rubinstein. A feel for rhythm and natural tempo shift is part of this. The three "New Etudes" Chopin wrote for the famous collections op. 10 and Op. 25 are simple and intimate, with the greater demand on nuance. Ihle Hadland’s playing here is beautiful and exquisite. In the Impromptu in F sharp major, op.36, we hear how he can build up a run to dramatic heights and his runs are superb pearls of virtuosity. Ihle Hadland’s performance of this last impromptu, op. 51. in G-major, brings a dreamy quality which takes us beyond time and place. The last piece of Chopin, the earlier Rondeau op.16, we do not hear often, either in the concert hall or on CD. It places greater demands on virtuosity than the other Chopin pieces, but Ihle Hadland has virtuosity in abundance. The dynamic range here is rarely big, but Ihle Hadland’s musical presence is enormous and he shows masterful control over the keys and moods. (…) It says something about Ihle Hadland’s versatility that he is equally at home performing Schumann as Chopin. His interpretation of Blumenstück op.19 creates a canvas with both bright colours and crisp lines. Waldszenen is an aesthetic pleasure to hear, Ihle Hadland interprets each of the nine pieces’ characters perfectly and precisely. In the first piece he leads us sensitively, but steadily into the woods. "Verrufende Stelle" I could have accepted as even more "verrufen", that is haunted, uncanny (unheimlich), in keeping with the early German Romanticism. It is too delicate and not quite scary enough. Schumann's wife, the famous pianist Clara Wick, avoided performing this piece because it had a motto of the poet Friedrich Hebbel, “where there is talk of a flower that is red, among the other pale, but it is not from the sun, however, that it drank human blood.” In return, the "Vogel als Prophet (Bird as Prophet) is performed in a way that we rarely hear nowadays. Ihle Hadland actually makes the music become a bird - we hear the trills of the bird within the landscape space and see the bird's eye view, when it disappears into the air. The sound quality on this CD is one of the best, as so often with Simax. The only thing I can pick on with this CD is that we hear the pedal too clearly, it is especially distracting and disturbing in the slow sections.

I flere år nå har vi visst at Christian Ihle Hadland er en fortreffelig Mozart-fortolker. Han spiller Mozart ikke så maskulint som Andsnes, men med stor sensibilitet og finesse. Nå er det endelig dokumentert på en cd, tatt opp i 2011. Det er to av de store Mozart-konsertene han her gir seg i kast med, nr. 21 i C-dur, med det såkalte Elvira Madigan-temaet i andresatsen, og Ess-dur-konserten nr. 22. Ingen av disse skrev Mozart selv kadenser til, så Ihle Hadland har like godt laget sine egne i nr. 21 og bruker Benjamin Brittens i nr. 22. Samspillet med Oslo-filharmonikerne er ytterst finstilt; Ihle Hadland og dirigenten Arvid Engegård vil tydelig det samme, og presisjonen, som er alfa og omega i Mozart, er uklanderlig. Dette er en innspilling som garantert vil få mye kritikerros. C-Dur-konserten har mange teatrale og operatiske virkemidler og Ihle Hadland finner seg tydelig godt til rette med musikkens skiftende karakterer og stemninger. Det eneste jeg er uenig når det gjelder C-Dur-konserten, er tempoet i andresatsen (med Elvira Madigan-temaet). Den tas for hurtig, er mer en allegretto enn en andante. (Til sammenligning spiller Pollini den en og et halvt minutt saktere, Uchida to minutter saktere). Det gjør at den smertelig-vakre melodien ikke riktig får synge ut. Kadensene i yttersatsene, som altså Ihle Hadland selv har skrevet, har både kraftfulle og herlig modulerende partier. Ihle Hadlands spill er perlende, med differensierte anslag og herlige triller. Samtidig har han den rette fjærende kraft i bass-akkordene. I Ess-dur-konserten kunne jeg (igjen) tenkt meg andanten et hakk saktere og (særlig i orkesterinnledningen) med en mer dyster, klagende tone. Dette var den første konserten der Mozart brukte klarinetter i stedet for oboer og endringen i fargelegging er påtagelig, noe solist og orkester da også utnytter. Valget av Brittens kadenser yttersatsene er mer enn et kuriosum og de spilles utsøkt av Ihle Hadland. Summa summarum: Nest etter Andsnes har Ihle Hadland nå gitt ut den mest overbevisende innspilling av Mozart-konserter her i landet noensinne. Vi venter bare på mer!

Two of Mozart's best piano concertos given a new lease of life in a fresh new interpretation by Christian Ihle Hadland and the Oslo Philharmonic. John Suchet's Album of the Week, 4 February 2013. Where sometimes the well-known middle movement of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 ('Elvira Madigan ') risks becoming an exercise in wading through musical treacle, Hadland's refreshingly speedy interpretation injects some of the composer's signature cheeky charm back into the piece. The sense of ensemble is impeccable throughout - as the horns echo the piano, or the piano echoes the strings, you can almost see the twinkle of joy in Mozart's eye as the cheery tunes are bounced effortlessly between each section of the orchestra. Christian Ihle Hadland's piano solos are edgy and characterful, but other members of the orchestra are given the time to shine in this brilliant recording. Listen out for Mozart's trademark horn lines glowing through the orchestral textures, or even a swelling oboe duet or an unexpected flutter of a flute. Every repeated listen to every movement will uncover another musical surprise. A delightfully pithy album of concertos, bringing Mozart's piano music to life.

This immaculately produced disc contains scintillating readings of two genial Mozart piano concertos. Ihle Hadlands polished, witty playing suits the musics character perfectly. Marvellous too to have both works accompanied so richly by a downsized Oslo Philharmonic under Arvid Engegård. Period-performance purists should listen carefully to the orchestral winds and horns in K482 and reflect upon what they might be missing. The Oslo players are fabulous, particularly a pair of fruity bassoons  characterful when issuing their riposte to the orchestras opening flourish, later cheekily embellishing the Rondos main theme. Hadland plays a first movement cadenza provided by Britten for Sviatoslav Richter. Stylistically it doesnt quite fit, but its a fascinating listen, at one point lurching boldly into the 20th century before neatly reassuming Mozartian garb. Hadland doesnt undersell either concertos grandeur. K467s first movement has just the right amount of pomp and wit. The over-familiar slow movement, used by a thousand telephone call centres, is played at a flowing tempo. Theres a sonorous plucked bass, and the piano line sings. Hadland's last movement sparkles. All is invigorating, never sentimental. Sublime, in other words.

Theres something intriguing about the young Norwegian pianist Christian Ihle Hadland: his musicality is very subtle, and no other pianist can match his poised and pearlised touch. But since his London performances had hitherto been confined to chamber music, Beethovens Second Piano Concerto with the Oslo Philharmonic under Osmo Vanska would be different sort of test. The surprise was that he turned that into chamber music too. His passage-work during Prom 69 had an intimacy one doesnt normally associate with Beethovens concertos, and he gave the cadenza a musing quality. The lovely dialogue between piano and orchestra in the Adagio was lifted into something magical, an effect only possible when soloist, conductor, and orchestra have worked together as long as these have done. Hadlands encore, a Byrd Galliard, was a typically left-field choice.