Hilary Hahn plays violinconcertos by Samuel Barber and Edgar Meyer

Samuel Barber:

Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, op.14

Edgar Meyer:

Violin Concerto

Hilary Hahn, violin

The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Hugh Wolff

2000. Sony Classical SBK 89029 (fullprice)

I have had the pleasure of following the recording carreer of Hilary Hahn since her international recording debut. It containes two of Bach's solopartitas and one of the sonatas, and it carried with it a promise of a young violinist uniquely talented. Hahn's account of the 3rd. partita is among the most stimulating I've come across, and I was thus not hesitant in purchasing her following recording of the Beethoven Violinconcerto. Not only is it the greatest of all violinconcertos but possibly the greatest work of music in the western tradition alltogether. I have collected quite a few versions of it over the years, but I tell you Hilary Hahn's account has a special place in my collection. I think I would prefer only Wolfgang Schneiderhahn's version with the Berliners and Eugen Jochum from 1961 (DG) to Hilary Hahn's supreme reading, and that is partly due to Jochum's and the BPO's spectacular orchestral performance. The Beethoven Concerto is coupled with Bernstein's dark spicey vision of Plato's symposium, which is treated to perfection by Hahn, David Zinman and the Baltimore Orchestra. Here we meet with Hahn yet again turning to American music, and despite my great anticipation I am again stunned by the result.

I wouldn't dwell too long on whatever similarities there may be between Bernstein's concertante work, and that of Samuel Barber, but there are in both works present a willfullness, and an undeniable charm. The thing that first strikes me about the Barber Concerto is the abundance of colour and thematic richness it posesses, qualities which ensures it a place among the great violinconcerto's of the 20th. century. There is warmth and a heartfelt sense of sincerity connected to each and every bar which makes the music come off as immediate, honest and moving. The concerto is a classics three movement structure, initiated by a openhearted and immediately capturing Allegro with the violin introducing itself at the very beginning. I was, I admit, a tiny bit sceptical to how the choice of a chamber orchestra would fill the requirements of the work in terms of fullness of sound and symphonic feel. I only had to audition the disc once to put such reservations well aside. The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra provides worldclass support for the soloist, in a delightful richness of sound, while keeping a watertight ensemble. I had the pleasure of hearing the Saint Paul CO a few years ago, playing Beethoven's 4th, among other thing, and I was pretty much sold there and then, so it is a joyful event to resample their fine musicianship in such a recording. The following Andante is made of a fabric Barber famously draped his Stringquartet adagio and its revised sibling the adagio for strings of Toscanini fame.

The portrayal of such a movement must be an intimidating task if there ever was one. The balancing between capturing the the long velvet lines in their intense and graceful flight, and at the same time avoiding an overtly heart-on-sleeve approach, verging on the vulgar. In bewildered awe I have no answers how to achieve this - Hilary Hahn seemingly has them all. This is one of the rare occations when the music seems to play itself. It is as if there is no interpretation, one is at the face of the music itself, as from Barber's intentions. This is of course a mere illusion, but nevertheless a highly potent one. Ms. Hahn's tonal capacity is quite simply out of this world. Her immense sense of line and direction, of interplay with the surrounding orchestral parts leaves me speechless. This is what separates Hilary Hahn from being just any prodigy. This is what makes her one of the worlds most promising young musicians. Her's is a tone which can carry any emotional weight, which can dance with the lightest foot without loosing its remarkable fullness, and her's is a mind that perceives the lines of the music and which invariably meets the work on its own ground. The concluding Presto is carried off with great verve from the Saint Paul CO and conductor Hugh Wolff, and Hahn's superbly artriculated voice makes foot in a fashion both elegantly playful and potent. Composer and bassist Edgar Meyer has written his two piece concerto for Ms. Hahn, who gives it its premier on record. It is a sympathetic work of Americana, with an insisting and including attitude. I like its unasuming folklike attire, but placed alongside Barber's masterpiece it gets the attention drawn away from itself, from no fault of its own.

The Barber Concerto is a work that belongs to any serious collection of music, and this recording is the reference to which all other attempts will be measured. Laurels to the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Hugh Wolff for top notch orchestral support, and again my unreserved admiration for the remarkable musicianship of Hilary Hahn.

- The images are taken from the Sony Classical CD-booklet