Chinese-Canadian violinist Yi-Jia Susanne Hou performed at Colorado State University’s Organ Recital Hall April 1 with pianist and Associate Professor of Music at CSU Bryan Wallick.

The two performed music by Johannes Brahms, Amy Beach, Franz Schubert and Camille Saint-Saëns. Hou performed solo portions of “Caprice No. 24” by Niccolò Paganini. Hou is the only artist in recorded history to perform Paganini’s “Caprice No. 24” in one breath.

“For me (the Paganini Caprices) feels like a whole different dimension,” Hou said. “There’s this kind of magnetic connection; time starts to morph and stand still. There are moments where there are 16 notes per second flying by, but I feel there’s an eternity of space between those notes, and you’re looking at yourself in slow motion.”

Niccolò Paganini was largely considered a sex symbol and the first rockstar of the Romantic era. When performing in the early 19th century, audience members would throw their underwear at him on stage, and he was often perceived as being possessed by the devil, notably for “Caprice No. 24.” 

“Any one of them can take six months to a year to learn,” Hou said. “I’ve coached violinists for six to nine months, and they were not able to perform them. I actually practiced it for four years. If you can imagine, that was literally my breakfast every single day.”

Hou and Wallick met at the Juilliard School of Music and have been performing together since. Their live performance was a conversation wherein the two communicated through frequencies and intuitive reactions.

“The nice thing about working with an artist is that you don’t actually have to talk much; you are just listening,” Wallick said. “There aren’t many words needed to answer musical questions or decisions. It’s a language within itself.”

The two musicians transported the audience across time through hundred-year-old classical instrumentals, expressing the human condition through momentary sublimity.

“You can get musical effects and sentiments without the words. That’s the beauty of music in that way; you don’t necessarily need lyrics. There is something about that sound, harmony and the time that can touch us in powerful ways that we don’t even need language to communicate this,” -Bryan Wallick, CSU associate professor of music

“It’s a little bit like time travel if you think about it,” Hou said. “You get, historically, something that’s been created by humans and that’s been passed down through generations, and we get to bring them to life today.”

Though the music was written generations ago, the fundamentals of humanity persist, and the complexities of existence remain.

“In some sense, certain things have never changed,” Hou said. “We are born, we grow up, we learn … and then we die. There are certain things that are certainties that we can not change. Life throws all kinds of things at us, wonderful, beautiful and extraordinary things; how do we endure those?”

Music can transcend the boundaries of time and language, connecting humanity through shared emotions and experiences.

“You can get musical effects and sentiments without the words,” Wallick said. “That’s the beauty of music in that way; you don’t necessarily need lyrics. There is something about that sound, harmony and the time that can touch us in powerful ways that we don’t even need language to communicate this.”

The two artists’ extreme concentration produced synchronistic cadence and gushing passion. Hou wore a scarlet red dress with blue flower pedals, and Wallick sported an all-black suit. The stage was warm white, and a blue backdrop bounced off the organ’s silver pipes.

The rhythmic sound moved up and down physical space and in and out of audience members’ minds.

“The music was like the ocean waves taking you into another realm,” CSU English major Leslie Means said. “There are a lot of things going on in my life right now, both on and off campus, and to be able to have music just wash all that away was amazing.”

Hou rested the violin on her left collarbone, graced her bow in her right hand and was delicately precise with her left-handed movements that translated into chord progressions. Her body moved with the sound that jumped off the instrument. 

Wallick remained relaxed behind the piano; his fingers danced across the keys, and his head and torso remained in tune with the rhythm of sound.

“Finding those moments where things just click and you’re really feeling free, there’s no fear and you have confidence — it’s a state that in every performance I am always aiming for,” Wallick said.

The concert closed with Saint-Saëns’ “Introduction et Rondo Capriccioso, Op. 28.” The song is eight minutes of fluid, interchanging tempos. Wallick and Hou performed the piece with style and received a standing ovation that lasted minutes.

“When you’re really in that zone, there’s no audience; there is almost no self,” Hou said. “It’s just, it is what it is.”

Wallick and Hou will be performing again in Fort Collins at the Odyssiad Competition, held on CSU’s campus. It will take place August 4-8 and is free to the public.

Reach Evan Borman at entertainment@collegian.com or on Twitter @CSUCollegian.