Present at the creation: Mihaela Martin, first IVCI gold laureate, returns for recital

Mihaela Martin displayed her sustained mastery. 

 After a late-night arrival as the monumental winter storm hit the city, Mihaela Martin sounded fully up to the task of recalling another monument — her gold-medal victory in the initial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis — with a fresh exhibition of her winning ways in recital Tuesday at the Indiana History Center. I heard it on livestream, an access taken advantage of by many IVCI patrons, according to the organization's executive director, Glen Kwok.

Her performance, ably supported by Chih-Yi Chen at the piano, glowed with the stylistic romanticism of the competition's founder, Josef Gingold.                                                                                      The short and the substantial pieces alike had the signature warmth of expression and manner that Gingold brought to both performing and teaching over decades crowned by his faculty tenure at Indiana University.

A further significance of the recital was the make-up of the program from pieces played by laureates in previous competitions. There was special emphasis from the 1982 IVCI winner on her Romanian heritage. That was topped by the duo's mastery of the Sonata No. 3, op. 25, by George Enescu (1881-1955), the most illustrious composer her homeland has produced. 

The initially brooding first movement turns fanciful and somewhat bucolic as it unfolds. The second movement showed off Martin's high-register security, with an overlay of pathos. In the finale, the vigorous passagework the pianist must negotiate came off well in tandem with the laureate's virtuosity. The strength and balance in the variation episodes were exemplary; the duo moved into the final measures with expansive gusto. The grateful ovation from the weather-reduced audience brought forth an encore familiar from many IVCI participants: Tchaikovsky's "Melodie."

The program opened with Edvard Grieg's Sonata No. 2, setting the stage for the effusions to come. Written on his honeymoon, the Norwegian composer's work, full of ardor, was given a performance rich in folkish vigor. The finale enjoyed a nicely weighted account with good forward motion amid its zesty triplet rhythms.

The "Dances and Romances" program title was fully embodied in the duo's performance of "Divertimento" by Igor Stravinsky. A four-movement adaptation of music from "The Fairy's Kiss," the work salutes the 20th-century master's affinity with ballet and Tchaikovsky alike. The "Danses suisses" movement had touches of the melodic and rhythmic heft of "Petrouchka." There was both sauciness and affection lavished upon the finale, "Pas de deux," reflecting the Parisian flair of Stravinsky's long residence in the French capital.

The program's short pieces were a nice representation of two women composers who have gotten much attention for the past few decades. Amy Beach, who used to suffer the marginalization of conventional shadowing under the name "Mrs. H.H.A. Beach," was a Boston composer under often lavish inspiration in the romanticism of her time. Her "Romance" is a compact example of her lyrical spirit, and Martin and Chen played it tenderly. 

The shadow that Clara Schumann labored under was of a different kind; the loyal wife, then widow, of Robert Schumann, she was esteemed mainly as a concert pianist. As a composer, her "Three Romances" cover terrain familiar from the profusion of songs written by her husband and many other Germans. I was struck also by how these short pieces go deeper without strain or artificiality. Those reflective qualities were brought out expertly. The whole recital was saturated in charm, a well-tempered bravura, and significant musical history.