Extractions: Glenn Gould once played the Brahms D-minor Piano Concerto at an absurdly slow tempo, his intention being to eliminate the antagonistic relationship between orchestra and soloist thats taken to be a hallmark of the Romantic concerto. It didnt really work, but in this recording, Hilary Hahn has realized something close to Goulds notion with the Brahms Violin Concerto. Hahn and Marriner turn in an ear-opening performance that invites you to reconsider this works profile. Instead of the imposing drama you expect, this performance gives prominence to the interaction between the two camps. Fleet tempos, a chamber-sized orchestra, and an emphasis on dialogue yield an interpretation that Gould might well have labeled "Baroquish." Hahns playing shows that shes no longer a prodigy but a mature violinist with a gorgeous, lyrical tone. Marriner not only gets great playing out of the ASMF winds a bobble in the Adagios famous oboe melody notwithstanding but also lightens up the textures and allows Brahmss imitative writing and imaginative scoring to shine through. Here and there I wished for more weight and heavier accents from the orchestra, but not often enough to dull the pleasure of this rethink. Not even minor quibbles attach to the Stravinsky performance. One of the quirkier products of his neo-classical phase, the Violin Concerto sounds like an unholy marriage between Bach and drunken polka music. Although not written in the virtuoso style, it makes formidable demands on the soloist, and these Hahn dispatches not only with ease but with great humor. Marriner matches her step for step, showing off the wild colors and off-kilter rhythms of Stravinskys score. The composers own recording with Isaac Stern sounds leaden and brittle by comparison.
|| San Francisco Performances hilary hahn, violin. with Natalie Zhu, piano. October 30, 2004 800 pm. NOTES ONTHE PROGRAM. Sonata No. 3 in C Major for Unaccompanied Violin, BWV 1005 http://www.performances.org/encores_note/hahn.asp
Extractions: Hilary Hahn, violin with Natalie Zhu, piano October 30, 2004 8:00 pm NOTES ON THE PROGRAM Sonata No. 3 in C Major for Unaccompanied Violin, BWV 1005 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Born March 21, 1685, Eisenach Died July 28, 1750, Leipzig Bach's six sonatas and partitas for unaccompanied violin date from about 1720, when Bach was Kapellmeister at the court of Anhalt-Cöthen. The three partitas are suites of dance movements, but the three sonatas are in somewhat stricter forms: not sonata form as it evolved later in the eighteenth century, but sonata di chiesa (literally, "church sonata") form, suggesting a more serious character than a collection of dance movements. Bach's unaccompanied violin sonatas all have four movements in a slow-fast-slow-fast sequence, and the second movement is always a fugue. Bach was famed in his own day as a virtuoso organist, and-like virtually all composers of his era-he also played the violin. Very probably he played in the orchestra at Cöthen, but it is known that he preferred to play viola in chamber music, and in fact we know nothing about Bach's skill as a violinist: his biographer Phillipp Spitta has noted that in all of the writings about Bach by family and contemporaries there is not one mention of his ability as a violinist. What is indisputable, however, is that his understanding of the instrument was profound. The violin is essentially a linear, lyrical instrument; Bach's music for it, however, is contrapuntal, requiring continual multiple-stopping and the most sophisticated technique imaginable.
Arborweb Reviews - Review: Hilary Hahn Beyond all argument, hilary hahn is an amazing young (twentyfour) violin virtuoso.Her 1999 recording of Bach s Ciaccona for Sony Classics was a technical http://www.arborweb.com/reviews/0402.hilaryhahn-review.html
Extractions: Hilary Hahn Practically perfect Along with the Bach, Hahn will be performing two sonatas by Mozart and one by Ysaye. The Mozarts are light and delightful, and the Ysaye supervirtuosic. While it will be interesting to hear what Hahn does with delightful and supervirtuosic pieces, the sublime Ciaccona is what everyone will be there to hear Hahn play.
Hilary Hahn hilary hahn. The violin has produced more child prodigies than any other musicalinstrument. Many of them grew up to become world stars from Yehudi http://www.georghirsch.com/summaries/eng/1998/ghhahnme.html
